.P22 

Copy 1 



DEC 10 ibOO 

LIKE ^ 
^HIM 



(Author's Edition 



JOHN R PADDOCK 



"Like Hiim" is published in paper covers for 
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for $1.00. 

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Gift edition, in handsome cloth covers, at 
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Address, Publisher of "Like Him," East Or- 
ange, N. J. 



LIKE HIM 

Or 

Led by the Spirit 



-:By:- 

JOHN R. PADDOCK 



"For as many as are led by the Spirit of 
God they are the sons of God" (Romans viii.-14). 



Published for tKe AvitKor by 
J5he Christian Alliance Pub. Co., 
Nya^ck, New York 



M 



86708 



JLiVvrary of Congress 

K Copies Received 

a&c 101900 

W/yiigr»i entry 

DEC /o 1900 

SECOND COPY 

Oeffwrerf to 
OKDtR DIVISION 

DEC 26 19QQ 



Copyright 1900, 
By John R. Paddock. 



AUTHOR'S NOTE 

A recent writer has said that^Commun- 
ion with God is the great fact of life; that 
religion is not the acceptance of a creed, 
nor a burden of commandments, but a 
personal secret of the soul, to be attained 
each man for himself." 

This secret, I believe, is revealed by 
the Spirit, in every age, to those who are 
taught and led by Him. 

In the following pages, I have aimed to 
present this view of the truth, in a series 
of Short Stories, which, in their leading 
characters, are intended as glimpses of 
Spirit-led lives. 

Such lives may have elements of mysti- 
cism about them, but, in their ministry 
to others, they are the most help- 
ful and uplifting forces of which we 
know. 

The spiritual life which I have tried to 
portray, is an intensely human life, obe- 
dient to, and led by the divine. Such a 
life as is possible to all believers in 
Christ. 

To those wlho are striving to follow 
Him, and walk in His steps; to Christian 
workers, and to parents whose consecrat- 
ed service is in the home, the writer hopes 
that these simple sketches may bring 
helpful encouragement, and prove an av- 
enue to the Deeper Spiritual Life. 

The disciples of Jesus were not great 



6 



LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



men, but their spirit, because like His, 
hais profoundly moved the world. 

The nineteenth century has had apos- 
tles as well as the first, men baptized by 
the Spirit, led 'by the Spirit, used by the 
Spirit. They have laid the f oundations of 
a holier life in the Church; they have in- 
augurated ian age of missions, w T ihich is 
fulfilling the 'Master's command, to 
carry the Gospel, as a witness, to all na- 
tions. Today they are emphasizing re- 
pentance and separation from the world; 
they are calling for consecration of time, 
money and service, and a few Sun-lit souls 
with miraculous power, are revealing the 
possibilities of a Spirit-led life. 

J. E. P. 



CONTENTS 



Hee Luther. 
I. 

The Mother and Son 11 

II. 

The Answer to Her Prayer. 25 

Israel's Daughter. 
I. 

The Fountain of Unrest 41 

II. 

Finding* Him 57 

III. 

The Doxology of Praise 68 

Florence Hawthorne's Crown. 
I. 

The Beauty of Holiness 80 

II. 

With Him in Service , 91 

III. 

With Him in Suffering. 103 

IV. 

The Choice of the Lord 112 



The Rich Man and the Banker. 
I. 

"All we like sheep have gone astray" 121 

II. 

The Banker's Obedience 130 

III. 

The Rich M>an a Bankrupt 136 

IV. 

Entering the Kingdom as a Little Child. . . .142 
Led by the Spirit. 
I. 

A Retrospect 149 

II. 

Conclusion 158 



HER LUTHER 



I. 



THE MOTHER AND SON 

BORN in Galilee of the Gentiles, with 
Oarmel on the south, and the hill 
country on the north; in a "lean-to" 
house, painted red without and an 
immaculate White within, for our ances- 
tors believed in white, not only for the 
world that is to come, but for the world 
that now is. 

To live up to their creed, required an 
amount of industry which left little time 
for recreation and none for idleness; yet 
boys and girls grew up under such roofs, 
tender, loving, courageous, self-poised 
and with that indescribable combination 
of brain and heart which knows of the 
doctrine because it has done the works. 

Those homes of sweet simplicity, 

From memory ne'er depart. 
Where virtue and integrity 

Were graven on the heart. 

How soft the light came in at night, 
Through little casement doors, 

And lay in golden bars so bright, 
Upon old oaken floors. 

Trees and huge boulders from the side 
of the mountain stood guard over it, 
while green meadows stretched away to 
the eastward, until they melted into the 



12 



LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



sombre pastures of the uplands beyond. 
A wild rose climibed to its very eaves and 
hung lovingly over the open door. A 
wayward foot path ascended the hill, loi- 
tered by & mountain brook, then lost it- 
self in the woods. 

Oh, the charm of those woods! where 
spruce and hemlock swung their leafy 
censers, and birches and maples lighted 
up the great cathedral aisles! 

Whir! Whir! Whir! What is that? A 
partridge flying to cover, and yonder 
streiak of silver flashing through the tree- 
tops, is a grey squirrel playing hide and 
seek among the branches. 

How our breath came and went with 
instant expectation, until every bush 
burned with fire, and we almost put our 
shoes from off our feet, as if upon holy 
ground. 

Just beyond the woods lay the breezy 
highlands, our New England fathers 
called them "pasture lots/' where the 
sweet fern and (huckleberry bushes ran 
riot, and meek-eyed cows, half hidden 
from sight, shook music from their tink- 
ling bells, which hung from a leathern 
strap around their great, thick necks. 

"Gome, Neely, time to bring the cows 
home!" I hear Grandpa calling from the 
loft of the old red barn. No farther urg- 
ing wias ever needed to send us up the 
hill and over the "beech lot" and "pigeon 
lot" calling, "Milly! Billy! Crumpet! Dil- 
ly ! con ! cou ! COu!" 



THE MOTHER AND SON. 



L3 



The sunlight lay along the hills in bars 
of gold; the distant hills answered back 
"Go'u ! eou! eou !" a robin by the fence 
poured out its heart in liquid praise; and 
suddenly God seemed so very near — I 
could feel His presence in the clear, still 
air, lamd His voice in all things living I 
could hear. 

Often have I mused upon it in later 
years, and recalled the sensation, at such 
times, of sMmming over the ground, not 
conscious that my feet touched the earth; 
exuberance of youthful spirits did you 
say? perhaps it was, but when I think of 
it, there comes to me that passage in Isa- 
iah, "They shall mount up with wings as 
eagles." 

Foxes often stole down the mountain 
paths and paid stealthy visits to our barn- 
yards and hen-roosts. Guns and hunting 
dogs were familiar sights in those days, 
and a farmer's life was one of adven- 
ture. How it all comes back again; 
the old farm kitchen, the great stone fire- 
place, with its huge back log, a generous 
lire is roaring up the wide-throated chim- 
ney, and a row of sputtering apples is on 
the hearth. 

Dogs are lying with their noses flat 
upon the floor, their tails beating a tattoo 
in anticipation of a savory feast, or doz- 
ing by the fire, they are dreaming of the 
happy hunting grounds far away. 

"Dash! Dash! wake up, old fellow!" 
It is father's voice I hear. "There's a sil- 



14 



LIKE HIM, OK LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



ver tail (grey fox) down the valley! Kim's 
dogs started him an hour ago, off Mount 
Carmel! you must keep him to the West 
mountain, Fll be waiting at the fox stand! 
Fetch him up old fellow!" 

In a twinkling of an eye, Dash is on his 
feet, with eyes fixed and muscles tense; 
then the door opens, and with a bound he 
clears the steps and is out of sight. 

Hark! do you hear that baying yonder 
on the mountain? Never fear, Reynard 
will soon be flying past the fox ^tamd. 

Those were the days when a belief in 
witches and "men possessed of the devil" 
had not wholly disappeared from New 
England. 

On a hill-top near us there was an old 
man, who, when in his cups, would stand 
by the hour and cry, "I am lord, king and 
devil of all Brush hill," and we believed 
him ! 

One day he took to his bed, and as he 
lived alone, the neighbors looked after 
him. We were frequently sent to his 
hermitage with bowls of broth, and sa- 
vory herbs, and were as often transfixed 
with horror, jas he related with bated 
breath how the devil had visited him the 
night before. "How did he look?" we ven- 
tured to ask in a whisper. "Look ! he was 
all eyes, eyes large as saucers, which 
rolled like balls of fire in his head, as he 
crept up and put his hands on my bed, 
glared at me, and rattled a chain in my 
face. At last he disappeared plumb 



THE MOTHER AND SON. 



15 



through -the floor !'' How we trembled at 
the thought of him ! 

One night as the old man lay dying, his 
Satanic Majesty appeared again, and was 
captured by the night watchers, and what 
do you suppose it was? Why, father's 
raccoon! which was chained to a post in 
our dooryard, but somehow managed to 
escape with his chain by night. 

A New England home of that period was 
always religious; "Free Will" struggled 
with "Divine Sovereignty;" a "comfort- 
able hope" with a life of sacrifice; and 
deeds spoke louder than words of Him, 
"who came not to be ministered unto, but 
to minister." 

Was it a boughten dress, so much de- 
sired? The home spun will do a little 
longer; and the consequence was that the 
contributions to the Foreign Missionary 
Society was surprisingly increased the 
next Sabbath; yet no one saw the trem- 
bling hand of a girl, slip out from beneath 
her little cape and drop her all into the 
contribution box. 

"Neely, did you hear it thunder last 
night?" said cousin David. "God was an- 
gry, wasn't He? Didn't it make you think 
of your sins? Supposing God should 
just strike us dead in a minit! Do you 
know (speaking very low and looking all 
around him), I crawled out of bed last 
night and ran as fast as ever I could up 
the North Meadow and put those chippy 
birds eggs back in the nest!" 



1T> LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



"Yes," replied Neely, ."and David, it 
was awful wicked for us to laugh coming 
borne from church last Sunday, but 
Grandpa did look ridiculous, with Aunt 
Mary riding behind him, and old Ben cut- 
ting up like mad. I might have held my 
breath if Grandpa's legs hadn't a flied 
loose, and Aunt Mary's new bonnet 
bobbed up and down 'till it was clear on 
one side; and the ribbons! Oh, dear! what 
on earth do you suppose ever started Ben, 
and on a Sunday, too!" 

"Grandpa says it was Parson Merri- 
man's cows pasturing along side the r'oad 
where they had no business to, and he is 
going to read him what the Scripture 
says about it." 

"Does the Bible say anything about: 
cows, David?" 

One day my little world stopped going. 
The house was so still, and everybody 
spoke in whispers. 

Mother was dead! 

There are deaths and resurrections all 
along this life, when that which lives 
within us, dies to its world without us, 
and rises again to a life so strangely new. 
The 'birds sang, but their songs were not 
of earth, flowers emptied their cups of 
inoense upon the evening breeze, brooks 
ran murniuringly to the river, maples and 
oaks burned with a heart of fire in the au- 
tumn woods, but not for me. 

Years passed, and all came back with a 
richer and deeper significance, for the 



THE MOTHER AND SON. 



17 



child bad passed into the larger life of 
womanhood. 

* #*# * * * * * * 

Thus reads the opening chapter in 
the life of Cornelia Bradford; a record 
never -finished by 'her, but taken up by 
the people among wfliam she lived. To this 
day they will tell you of her beauty that 
caused no envy, and passed not away with 
age; of her hopeful, buoyant nature, that 
overflowed like a perpetual spring; of her 
strong womanly character tempered by 
an unusual grace. 

They will tell you of the sorrows of her 
life, of her widowhood and loss of earthly 
possessions, and they speak of it as though 
her sorrows were their own, for they loved 
her. They remember her sweet, and chas- 
tened face, as she sat in the old meeting 
house, with her only son, a boy of twelve 
years, whose large dark eyes wandered 
from face to face until they found hers 
and rested thereon. 

She had consecrated him, her Luther, 
to the Lord, at his birth, and trustingly 
waited for the day when Cod's Spirit 
should descend upon him, and he and sho 
together should receive the answer to her 
faith. 

The answer tarried, it did not come, but 
the mother lived in the son, and the son 
lived for the mother. 

She shared his books and his studies, 
his plays and rambles in the fields and 



18 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



woods. No one knew better than she the 
haunts of the speckled trout, or the hab- 
its of the red squirrel, or the deep tangled 
wood where the timid grouse fed upon 
red partridge berries. Among birds and 
wild flowers $he was Nature's interpreter 
to him. 

So his boyhood passed, until the time 
came for him to leave home and prepare 
for college. Then the mother revealed 
to him the hidden springs of her being. 
She told him of the circumstances of his 
birth, of the centering of her life in him 
while he was as yet unborn, and admit- 
ted to the inner sanctuary of her heart he 
came forth purified by the fire of a mo- 
ther's sacred love. 

His school and college experience was 
not unlike that of other boys. At first he 
suffered keenly, as all boys must who 
have been sheltered under mother wings, 
but his moral fibre was strengthened by 
means of it, and in the end vice had no 
attraction for him. 

Not so, however, with his intellectual 
life. As his mental horizon expanded, the 
faith of his childhood lost its (simplicity. 
It grew more complex and was beset with 
interrogations. How could he reconcile 
the truth, as he had learned it at his 
mother's knee, with a larger knowledge 
which seemed to contradict it? His spir- 
it fretted at the chain which moored his 
little bark, in safe anchorage near the 
shore, and longed for untried seas. 



THE MOTHER AND SON, 



19 



The inevitable consequence of unrest. 
Now the mother's prayers laid firmer hold 
upon God's altar, and her faith stood out 
the more conspicuous in the eyes of her 
•son, because its foundations were unseen. 

"Mother!" he used to write in those 
days,. "I wish I could believe as easily as 
you do, but I cannot. Once I believed be- 
cause it was you who told me." 

"Oh, mother! I do believe in you, al- 
ways, but is it n'ot possible that you are 
mistaken? Would you have believed the 
same had you read and studied as I have? 
I cannot keep these thoughts out of my 
mind." 

And the mother answered, "Luther 
dear, the truth is in God, not in human 
wisdom. It is a vain struggle to read 
the mystery of the infinite. It is a mys- 
tery which thro' all ages, we shall only 
read here a line of, and there a line of. 
So many nohle and aspiring souls have 
los>t their way trying to explore the mys- 
tery of their own lives. 

"Oh, Luther, my son! Is it possible 
that you will be one of them? No ! it can 
never be! Open your soul to God, as yo'u 
have to me in the days gone by. He will 
reveal Himself to you — sometime, and 
you will be 'satisfied. 

"I am asking Him now, upon my knees, 
that He will." And in a postscript added 
later, "Luther, dear Luther! He has prom- 
ised me that He will." This last sentence, 
winged by a mother's faith, found the 



20 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



heart of her boy, and he knew then, strug- 
ble as he would, her prayer was sure to 
be answered. The summer following was 
one long to be remembered. He had won 
distinction as a student, and the mother 
looked upon him with a feeling of honest 
pride. She noted, as only a mother can, 
his bearing, his figure, even the tones of 
his voice did not escape her, and it was 
the proudest day of her life, when she em 
tered the old meeting house pew leaning 
on his strong arm, her Luther's. 

That evening they stood watching one 
of those glorious panoramas of Nature's 
painting, a midsummer sunset. The west 
was aflame with fire. The east lay bathed 
in royal purple, while the sky above 
rained down a shower of gold. 

Finally the mother spoke, half to her- 
self, and half to Luther, "What a beauti- 
ful world to live in here and hereafter! 
'A new heaven and a new earth/ the Bi- 
ble says, not a different heaven, any more 
than the new flowers this summer are dif- 
ferent from thoise of last. They are the 
same flowers clothed with their resurrec- 
tion bodies. 

"The same dear faces greet us, the same 
old loves will meet us. Somehow I al- 
ways feel that we shall possess the same 
kind of bodily senses forever. Everything 
will be so natural hereafter." "But mo- 
ther, that is impossible," he replied; "our 
bodies go to dust, are blown to the winds. 
What is it Shakespeare says? 'Imperial 



THE MOTHER AND SON. 



21 



Caesar dead and turned to clay, may stop 
a crack and keep the wind away/ " 

"That is a man's view of it my son, but 
what were you reading only the other 
day. 'Matter and force are indestructi- 
ble.' I kept saying to myself, 'Body and 
spirit.' I am so glad matter is eternal, 
cannot be destroyed, for now I know my 
body cannot be destroyed any more than 
my spirit, and it does not trouble me that 
it disappears from view, God has it in 
His keeping." 

"An old fashioned belief, mother, even 
ministers do not preach it any more. 
Why, you know inj-he Apostle's Creed 
we read, 'The resurrection of the dead,' 
molt the resurrection of the body any long- 
er, and our future life is believed to be 
spiritual, not gross and material like this, 
but 'Somehow that thought about the eter- 
nity of matter troubles me after all. All 
our science tends to show that matter is 
kept in intimate asisiociaitiom with force, or 
spirit, as you call it, everywhere. The 
most distant star is like our world in this 
respect, and the materials composing it 
are not different from those of ours. Then 
science has demonstrated beyond a doubt, 
that an unseen universe is ail about us, 
and that it is only the limitations of our 
bodily senses which shut us out of the en- 
joyment of it. If our eyes were sensitive 
to vibrations which are now pulsing 
through the universe unseen; if our ears 
possessed a wider range of hearing, and 



22 LIKE HIM, OK LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



taste and touch new powers, we should 
be ushered into a new life, compared with 
which this present one would seem but 
the ante-chamber. It would literally be 
a new heaven and a new earth to us, I 
must study this subject more in the fu- 
ture. I really must." 

"Yes, Luther, and may I not study it 
with you, perhaps by your side, when you 
do not see me? But my son," and she 
turned upon him with a look of unspeak- 
able love, "has the dear Lord told you 
what you are to do in this life?" "No, 
mother," he answered, and his face grew 
thoughtful as he looked into hers. "Then 
I must not," she replied quickly, and they 
entered the house. 

The summer passed all too swiftly, so 
much crowded into every day of planning 
and of preparation. Luther had accepted 
a call from a school in a neighboring 
'state, to become its principal, and a hun- 
dred things immediately suggested them- 
selves, to the mother's heart for the com- 
fort of her boy. The light burned long 
into the night in her room, after Luther 
had gone to bed. 

The last day came, and it was her birth- 
day. A little compamy gathered to cele- 
brate the event. Flowers decked the room 
and many tokens of affectionate regard 
lay upon the table. It was a joyous, hap- 
py day, and all wished the mother and son 
the richest of God's blessings. 

The silver was in her hair, and the 



THE MOTHER AND SON. 



23 



same sweet smile of girlhood upon her 
face as she said, "Why, how easily one 
can grow old and not feel the burden of 
years. I am now counting the quarters 
of the century as they pass, the next 
will be the fulness. You may remember 
me then just the same, in the new home, 
and I shall never forget this one and 
this beautiful earth." 

As she sat down they noticed a slight 
pallor upon her face, and thought the day 
had wearied her, so the company gradual 
ly withdrew. Not long after a physician 
was hastily summoned. He said some- 
thing about "heart failure" but Luther 
did not hear him. Speechless from grief 
he knelt that night by his mother's side, 
and his eyes never once left her face. At 
length she knew him. "Luther?" Then 
he buried his face on her breast. "Luther 
my beloved son, God knoweth best," — 
here her voice failed her, but Luther, with 
his head clo se pr essed to her s, caught these 
words : "Father — my son — love him, keep 
him, come to him — him whom Thou hast 
given unto me — be with me where I am," 
— a long silence in which no sound was 
heard but the ticking of the old fashioned 
clock, then the dear lips moved again, and 
her voice came back clear and sweet as 
of old. "Yes, Grandpa! I will bring 
the cows home. The sunlight lies 
along the hills in bars of gold, hea- 
ven seems so very near ! I feel God's pres- 
ence in this clear — Why, father! mother! 



24 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 

Jesuit! tare you here?" And she was gone. 

Gone! No! Our beloved are never 
gone! "I am with you always." Did He 
not say it? Luther staggered to his feet, 
groped blindly for the door and passed 
out into the night. 

With streaming eyes he scanned the 
starry dome above, if perOhance God 
would grant him sight of the spirit of his 
mother — somewhere. 

All was cold and dark ! The same stars 
which shone upon Abraham at the 'Sepul- 
chre of Macthpelah; upon Jacob with his 
head upon a stone at Bethel, upon the 
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, 
looked down silent witnesses of his grief. 

How long he remained thus, he knew 
not, but gradually a misty veil was let 
down by an unseen hand, and star af- 
ter star paled before the all-conquering 
light of the coming dawn. 

The birds awoke; there was a twitter- 
ing in the branches over his head; a soli- 
tary note came from a neighboring tree, 
then another and another, 'till the fields 
afar answered back with the chorus of 
their feathered choirs, 

Luther Bradford turned his face from 
his first night of sorrow to the light of 
the earning day. When lo! his eyes were 
opened and he saw the gates of pearl 
swing wide, and one entering upon the 
golden streets, crowned with a victor's 
wreath; and heaven was jubilant with 
song. 



II. 



THE ANSWER TO HER PRAYER 



HE Chair of JPhysics in the Metropol- 



itan Institute was vacant, and its 



I Board of Trustees, composed large- 
ly of business men, were empowered 
to fill it. Now, Boards of Trustees have 
ways of their own which are past finding 
out, and this particular Board had a way 
Which grew out of the principle that val- 
uable goods never seek a market, but the 
market always demands them. In other 
words men should wait to be asked, and 
they confidentially told their wives that 
this was one of those things which wo- 
men understood by intuition. The first 
thing, therefore, which they did* was to 
ascertain the men whom other institu- 
tions wanted, and if by chance, one of 
these made application by letter or 
through friends, his name was stricken 
off the list as unworthy of being called. 

After a laborious examination of re- 
cords, the Bo*ard were of the opinion that 
there were only six i^ien whom it would 
be advisable (or as they expressed it, it 
would pay), to interview, and it so hap- 
pened that the merits of these six were 
so nearly equal, that dhoice hinged on 
matters, which, to a purely professional 
mind, had little or no relevancy to the du- 
ties to be performed. 




26 



LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



Among the six was a comparatively 
young man who had just begun to make 
his mark in the world; but he was a work- 
er and the Board had a weakness for 
workers, moreover, he was modest and 
had no opinions as to how an institution 
ought to be run, and when interviewed 
by the Board he had little to say and let 
them do the talking. But that which fin- 
ally turned the iscale in his favor was a 
protest which came up from the academy 
of which he* was head master, declaring 
that it could not spare him; that he was 
indispensable to the prosperity of the 
school; in fact, if he left, half the pupils 
would leave also. Now it so happened 
that the Metropolitan had recently estab- 
lished a department for just such pupils, 
— & feeder, they called it — and the Board 
made mental note of this proposed exo- 
dus, and immediately called him. 

It was the day after this call was re- 
ceived. School had closed and the clat- 
ter of great boots and smaller shoes upon 
the worn and rickety staircase had 
ceased to ec'ho along the vacant halls. 

Silence rested upon the old two story 
wooden building, and the master was left 
alone. x He was sitting before a row of 
empty benches, with his head resting up- 
on his hands, and there were tears in his 
eyes. He seemed to be hearing Tom Som- 
mers saying, "Are you going to leave us 
Mister Bradford? The boys are all broke 
up about it, and we have been thinking 



THE ANSWER TO HER PRAYER. 



27 



maybe you didn't know what we thought 
of what you have done for us; likely as 
not we have been stupid and hard to 
learn, but won't you try us again? We 
will work!" "Yes, we will!" comes from 
the boys all over the cla&s room, while 
the eyes of the girls shine like stars of 
pnomise through suppressed tears." "And 
Mister Bradford, some of us have spend- 
ing money, you know, and Jim Walters 
has sold his catamaran and Bill Wilson 
his double ripper (s!he is the one that beat 
'em all on the hill last winter), and we 
have been round with a subscription pa- 
per, the whole town are subscribing! Oh, 
Mr. Bradford! won't you stay? Won't 
you?" 

Then for the first time he is conscious 
of a slight girlish figure at the back of 
the room — his best pupil — who<se lustrous 
eyes transfix him with their burning 
light, ihalf worship, half love, and whose 
face flushes one moment, and pales the 
next, like some rare shell immersed in 
tempestuous seas. There is a choking sen- 
sation in his throat and his mother's 
words ring in his ears: "No riches nor 
honors in this world can compare with 
the love o'f honest and true hearts." 

The master is in danger of being mas- 
tered by love; but it is only for a moment, 
he rises albrujMy from his chair and paces 
the floor up and down, back and forth be- 
tween the empty benches. There is a de- 
termined look in his face and the call of 



28 



LIKE HIM, OK LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



The Metropolitan Institute is in his hand. 
The battle is on! Head against heart! 
And the head wins. 

•X- * * * * * * 

The 'arrival of the new professor at the 
Metropolitan created but a momentary 
ripple in the life of that institution. He 
was formally presented to the members 
of the faculty, who shook hands with 
him, passed the compliments of the day, 
then retired to their respective depart- 
ments to meet thereafter oinly at stated 
intervals, and in their official relations. 

It was his first experience of the chill 
of that exceedingly rarified atmo'sphere 
wliich invariably accompanies high (alti- 
tudes, and it did not take him long to dis- 
cover that between college professors 
there is often a great gulf fixed which it 
is impossible to bridge, except through 
the outside world of society or reputation. 
Ais the new professor sat in his boarding 
house one evening, brooding over this ex- 
perience, his eye fell upon these words 
staring at him from a copy of Ganot's 
Physics, "Electric currents will traverse 
miles of conducting wire, rather than 
cross an incfh of rarified air," and he was 
comforted. 

His boarding house was in the heart of 
the city, and his room at the rear end 
of a hall on the fourth floor. Its single 
window looked out upon a desert of tin 



THE ANSWER TO HER PRAYER. 



29 



roofs, relieved only by smoking chimneys 
and iron railings. The room was small 
and contained one chair and two monu^ 
mental pieces of furniture. It was heated 
from the halls below! Sometimes, very 
rarely, one of the boarders would invite 
him to step into her room "just for a mo- 
ment, a mere matter of consultation about 
some abstruse word in the dictionary." 
Or the widow on the first floor would stop 
him as he passed her door to inquire if 
he did not think her boy was a prodigy? 
As his only point of observation had been 
the dinner table, he invariably answered 
in the affirmative, and so paved the way 
for future invitations to talk it over. At 
such times he was painfully conscious of 
his duplicity, for the atmosphere of the 
mother's room recalled the home of his 
boyhood, and rendered his present isola- 
tion the more real to him. 

He would gladly have changed places 
with the boy, who nestled under his mo- 
ther's arm, or even for a time with the 
brown spaniel that lay curled up in a 
large arm chair by the fire; but what he 
actually did was to sit straight as a ram- 
rod on the edge of his chair and talk 
learnedly to the mother regarding the fu- 
ture career of her son. 

His' sense of isolation led him to seek 
the companionship of his students, and 
as time went on the bond of sympathy 
between them grew stronger. He entered 
personally into their lives, and led them 



30 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



from the dreary wastes of text book in- 
struction into the green pastures of his 
own thought, "putting himself before 
them, as a shepherd goeth before his 
sheep. " 

Just then the world was entering upon 
what one writer has called "The Age of 
Electricity." "The spirit of the amber 
soul/' which the ancients believe resided 
in a resinous gum found upon the shores 
of the Baltic sea, had been traced to the 
lightnings of heaven and behind the flam> 
ing sword had been discovered the hid- 
ings of beneficent power." 

"Its pulses were throbbing under oceans 
and across continents, freighted with hu- 
man thoughts. Its voice was speaking 
all the languages of the civilized world. 
Its touch lighted hamlet and metropolis 
alike, and glowed deep in the bowels of 
the earth." 

Into this dazzling field of research 
Bradford entered, hoping therein to dis- 
cover some fragment of truth, overlooked 
by others, or some secret of nature which 
his hand might be the first to unlock. 
He was nothing daunted by the character 
or amount of the work before him, but 
patiently and with resolute purpose, he 
set himself to what might prove to him 
a herculean task. Early in the morning 
and late at night, he poured over his 
Thompson and Maxwell, immersed in the 
mystery of Watts, Coloumbs, Amperes 
'and Ohms. These infinitely rapid vibra- 



THE ANSWER TO HER PRAYER. 



31 



tions which give rise to heat or light or 
electricity, as the case may be. Was it 
not possible to discover their origin? 
These electrical currents which mani- 
fested themselves with every disturb- 
ance of the nervous system, hav- 
ing their source in the food we eat, and 
the air we breathe, and entailing a con- 
tinuous strain in their production, until 
mind and body became fatigued and re- 
quired absolute rest for recuperation. 
What relation had they to physical life? 
What; meaning had these analogies aris- 
ing out of the mysterious world of force 
and confronting him with an undiscov- 
ered source of po'wer? 

His spirit of investigation which here- 
tofore had been engaged in inquiry only, 
now grappled with the problem itself. It 
was the old story over again. The sub- 
stance of his theories and dreams persis- 
tently refused to embody themselves in 
material form. He constructed the most 
delicate and perfect apparatus, only to 
find it inadequate to the conditions im- 
posed upon it, but he neither faltered nor 
became discouraged; patiently and pain- 
fully he examined each deduction of his 
own and studied the failure of others 
until by the colorless light of his own crit- 
icism, the causes of his defeat were in 
part revealed to him. His one absorbing 
thought after this was to know the truth, 
not so much foi the success it would bring 
him, as for its own transcendent worth. 



32 LIKE HIM, OK LED BY THE SPIRIT. 

Keturning to his investigation's, with a 
new spirit born of love, he no longer 
sought to wrest from nature her secrets 
by assault, but he wooed her as a suppli- 
ant at her feet. 

Deep and long he drank from her lips 
each whispered word, sympathized with 
her varying moods, and listened with rapt 
attention when she voiced the harmonies 
of universal laws. 

The discipline of these years taught 
him patience and humility, brought to 
him an accuracy of observation, and 
breadth of thought which he did not be- 
fore possess, but in the end he found him- 
self once more on the border of the un- 
known and unknowable. 

He had traced the phenomena of na- 
ture's forces back to their ultima u e 
source. But what ivas force® He had 
viewed life unfolding from primordial 
germs, watched it as it built, with unseen 
fingers, the body of a bird, a fish, or a 
man. But what ivas life? He had .searched 
for some clue to the birth of man's self- 
consciousness in the dim pre-historic past; 
but a silence like that of the grave met 
him here. 

Some one has said: "That is a solemn 
moment, when the mind reaches the verge 
of its mental horizon, and looking over 
sees nothing more." It's straining but 
makes the abyss more profound. Its cry 
comes back without an echo. Men find 
either One, or spend the rest of their days 



THE ANSWER TO HER PRAYER. 33 

in trying to shut their eyes." Fortunate- 
ly for Luther Bradford, he did not do the 
latter. The memory of a sainted life 
would not permit it. But he was per- 
plexed. 

Where was truth, and what was wisdom? 

Life seemed full of sad surmise, 

Show us now the real Ideal, 

Mysteries of life unseal, 

Give us balm our wounds to heal, 

Wisdom which we know and feel is secure 

from all appeal, 
To a higher court's aissize. 

Such was the attitude of his mind and 
soul after these years of work and study. 

******* 

To the north of Galilee, a range of hills 
rose abruptly, to the „ height of a thou- 
sand feet. For countless ages 'they had 
remained as monuments of an unwritten 
past, in which huge sheets of lava burst 
through the overlying sandstone, and 
reared their plutonic heads above the 
waste of waters. 

Ice and storm, grim sculptors of the 
air, had wrought ceaselessly upon them. 
Woods and flowers, children of the sun 
and rain, had crept up their frowning 
sides, nestled in crevice and crack, and 
drawn sustenance from their rock-ribbed 
breasts. 

When at evening, their softened out- 
lines lay bathed in the twilight, the peo- 



34 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 

pie to the west called them the "Blue 
Mountains/ 7 but Galilee, resting under 
their shadows, looked up to them as the 
"Hanging Hills. " 

At this period of Luther's experience, 
he frequently visited these hills, some- 
times climbing to their summits long be- 
fore it was day. Strength, stability, un- 
changeablenes'S, elements of everlasting 
truth, were about him there, and in the 
silent strength of their companionship he 
felt girded anew for the conflict of life. 

It makes little difference through what 
God speaks to us, so long as He speaks. 
"Fire and hail, snow iand vapors, stormy 
winds, fulfilling His Word." 

To perplexed and baffled souls, strug- 
gling for the light, His Word is sure to 
come. 

Luther Bradford was learning his limi- 
tations, his incompleteness, his need of 
that which would fill up the life of which 
he as yet knew a part. That such a com- 
plement existed he was sure, for all na- 
ture spoke to him of it, with a certainty 
which he had long since learned to recog- 
nise as true. 

The e'agle soaringaloft to catch the first 
rays of the rising sun, was complete in the 
^atniosphere w T hich sustained her wings. 
"The insect crawling at his feet, the fish 
in the sea which lay darkly outlined be- 
yond the heights of Carmel, found a per- 
fect world in which they "lived and 
moved and had their being," and should 



THE ANSWER TO HER PRAYER. 



35 



not the soul of man, highest among creat- 
ed intelligences, have also his sustaining 
and all-satisfying environment? So he 
reasoned. 

Before the revelation of infinite wis- 
dom and creative power, he humbly 
bowed, and worshipped reverently from 
afar, and, oh, that he might touch the 
hem of His garment and be found com- 
plete in Him! Between the infinite God 
and the' finite man, there seemed to be a 
great gulf fixed. So he stood and mused 
upon the mountain top. 

Two worlds had met at his feet. A 
chance seed, borne upon the winds, had 
dropped into a crevice of the rock, and, 
germinant with life, had seized upon the 
dead world in which it lay, changing it to 
a living flower! 

Out of that flower God spoke to Brad- 
ford in parable, saying, Life is from 
above, not from below, man by searching 
cannot find out God. My life alone can 
bridge the chasm between the dead and 
helpless world of flesh, and the world of 
spirit. "Ye must be born again." 

******* 

The sun had risen above the horizon, 
and athwart the crystal azure, shot its 
winged arrows of light. Far to the west 
the hills of Bethany caught them on their 
wooded slopes, while before the morning 
wind, which swept up the valley from the 



36 



LIKE HIM, OB LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



sea, fields of waving emerald bowed, as 
if in continual prayer. 

The soul of Luther Bradford rose with the 

morning and worshipped at the break of day, 
For the light had entered also- into his frail 

ltouse of clay, 
And he. saw as in a vision what before had 

hidden been, 
Saw life's mystery unfolding like a scroll of 

parchment thin, 
As living tissue writ without and writ within. 
But the characters were written in a language 

none may know, 
Save the angels, whose pure spirits read the 

thoughts of God, that flow 
Through the universe in tides perpetual, to and 

fro. 

I 

Backward, forward, forward, backward, as a 
ship upon the main, 

Homeward voyaging, sights the headlands of 
the harbor it would gain, 

When the darkness closing round it, drives it 
out to sea again, 

So 'he, twixt the light and shadows, saw the 
truth "in broken gleamis," 

Followed halting, sorely baffled, as a man 
walks in his dreams. 

Cried aloud: "O, Christ, deliver from this tan- 
gled web of life! 

"Come, oh, Prince of Peace, forever take pos- 
session, still this strife I" 

It was midday. In the intensity of his 
spirit, the man was unconscious of the 
flight of time. In his hand he held a let- 
ter, from whose worn and faded pages 
these words looked out upon him: "Luth- 
er, my sion, He will reveal Himself to you 
sometime — and you will be satisfied. I 



THE ANSWER TO HER PRAYER. 



37 



am asking Him now upon my knees that 
He will." 

What was this! The mountain top 
seemed strangely luminous! A glorious 
presence filled all without him, and all 
within hini, but he dared not so much as 
lift up his eyes, 'till a voice low and sweet 
spoke through the chambers of his soul, 
saying, "Luther, I am the Truth" and 
looking up, he left all to follow Him. 

So the Chair of Physics in the Metro- 
politan Institute was again vacant. 



ISRAEL'S DAUGHTER 



I. 



THE FOUNTAIN OF UNREST 

GALILEE undergoes fewer changes 
as the years go by than most New 
England towns. Its center, or vil- 
lage, has gradually absorbed the 
remnant of its farming population which 
failed to emigrate to the South or West 
in the early part of the present century. 
Its foster children, however, the graceful 
elms, nourished by two generations, have 
stood with interlocked arms above its 
hearthstones for more than a hundred 
years, and today lift high their heads 
above the town in unconscious strength 
and beauty. 

At the heart of the village stands the 
lineal descendent of the first meeting 
house, with its great white finger point- 
ing heavenward, and its old town clock, 
whose trembling voice proclaims the 
hours with less and less authority. 

Within its walls the children of the fa- 
thers had gathered from generation to 
generation, cherishing their memories, 
emulating their virtues, and strongly op- 
posed to modern innovations, such as 
threaten its life in these closing days of 
the nineteenth century. 

All Galilee loves to tell the story of 
Deborah Bunnel, the only daughter of 



42 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



Deacon Israel Bunnel, whose lineage 
could be traced back through Caleb, Josh- 
ua, and Moses, back to the Rev. Ichabod 
Bunnel, the first minister to the parish, 
in the reign of "George the First/' 

The Rev. Ic J habod Bunnel was a great 
man in his day, as is evidenced by the re- 
spect amounting almost to reverence, 
which arises in the breast of a Galilee 
man at the mention of his name. At ev- 
ery important gathering of the clans, they 
are reminded that "Rev. Ichabod served 
their church and community for fifty 
years, during which time he baptized * 
over two thousand of their children, and 
buried half as many of their fathers and ' 
mothers. " It is a matter of tradition that 
his knowledge 'of the elements was so far 
in advance of his times, that he kept a 
great white st'one i<n the cellar, which, by 
its sweating properties, told him when 
to pray for rain, and it is declared that 
his sermons "out of the original Greek 
and Hebrew/' were models for all coming 
generations to follow. 

During the early years of his ministry 
he married one Thankful Merriman, 
whose gratitude found expression in the 
twelve sons whom she bore him. 

There was Reuben and Moses and Gid- 
eon and Caleb and Calvin and Benoni and 
Birdsey and Luther and Joel and Jerre 
and Truman and Ichabod, Jr., who in 
their turn are responsible in large meas- 
ure for the frequency with which these 



THE FOUNTAIN OF UNREST. 



43 



names reappear upon the church register. 

The Kev. Ichabod was three score years 
and ten, when the War of the Revolution 
broke out, and it is related of him, that he 
walked the aisles of his church urging the 
men iof his congregation to enlist:, and 
after the enlistment marching himself at 
their side to Boston. 

Such was the blood which ran in De- 
borah's veins, although it had passed 
through four generations, and -had min- 
gled with the peaceful currents of a Qua- 
ker ancestry before it had reached her. 
Nevertheless, one who sees in heredity the 
warp and w T oof of our humanity, could 
discern the blood of Ichabod in deadly 
corpuscular warfare with that of the Qua- 
ker, within the veins of Deborah. 

Religious by nature, she yielded w T ith 
becoming humility, although with inward 
dissent, to the belief of her fathers, but 
against the "Inward Light" the spirit of 
Ichabod rose up in conscious battle. Of 
course she was ill at ease. She longed 
for that which would satisfy the deeper 
cravings of her nature, and at the same 
time give inspiration to her life. As she 
surveyed herself daily in her gilt framed 
looking glass, w 7 hich hung over a cherry 
chest of drawers in her room, she asked 
herself the question, whether the great 
outside world had not more than enough 
to satisfy her? And a very handsome 
face, with deep, thoughtful eyes, seemed 
to answer, "Yes." So she fed her desires 



44 



LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



at the fountain of her unrest, the little 
gilt framed looking glass. 

"Wall, I heard Deborah's goin' to the 
city to live/ 7 said Birdsey, one day in 
the early fall, as he alighted from his ox- 
cart in front of Calvin's house. "I'd never 
believed Israel would hev give in to her, 
but the fact on it is Israel's set his heart 
on thet girl and she'll be the rooination 
of him yet, ye see if s^he ain't." 

"Set your affections on things above," 
replied Calvin sententiously, "doant you 
remember how Siah Perkins set his heart 
on that three year old heifer of his'n last 
Spring and she didn't live a m'onth after- 
wards? The Almighty's no respecter of 
persons, Birdsey." 

"I'm thinking your premises be good, 
but conclusions be wrong, Calvin. The Al- 
mighty's no respecter of persons, but a 
heifer's not a person, and thar's the dif- 
ficulty, and supposing for the sake of the 
argyment that she is! Haow's Israel, a 
believer and a son of the fathers, to be 
put alongside of Sia'h, an. unbeliever and 
a Spiritoolist, who doant come under the 
promises?" 

"Right accordin' to law, Birdsey, ac 
cordin' to law, but them words is accord- 
in' to grace, and grace takes in Israel, 
Siah, and the heifer, too— figuratively 
speaking— doant yer see?" Birdsey was 
no match for 'his friend in "wrastling with 
Scriptures," and so he was silent while 
Calvin shifted the conversation to more 



THE FOUNTAIN OF TJNKEST. 



45 



congenial ground. 'Times hev changed, 
brother Birdsey since you and I was 
young. There's Shirlock and Capt. Wil- 
liam and Abigail and Cornelia thet sung 
long side of us in the gallery — forty year 
ago, every one on 'em gone, and who is to 
take their places in this Zion? You can't 
find men and wimmen like Capt. William 
and Cornelia Bradford naow-a-days. The 
Lord haint got the stuff to make 'em out 
of. Thar's Israel's girl a-throwing away 
her birthright and a-hankering after the 
world, and the young folks a-running af- 
ter a parson that will feed 'em on milk 
and honey — what kind of 'pillars in the 
church' will they make by and by?" "Ca- 
terpillars ! v answered Birdsey, sarcastical- 
ly; but his reply was apparently lost on 
Calvin, for at that moment the latter dis- 
covered that his cattle had seen a vision 
of green pastures, and were standing knee 
deep in a pool by the roadside. Hurrying 
on after them he mounted his cart and re- 
lapsed into a meditative mood, chuckling 
softly to himself as he repeated — "Cater- 
pillars, thet's so! Birdsey hit the nail 
on the head, that time. Cater-pillars! 
Them thet turns into butterflies and has 
wings on." 

On the same day, Israel took Deborah 
to the railway station, her heart beating 
high with expectation, for the realization 
of her dreams was in view. But Israel 
was heavy hearted. Deborah knew it, 
and at parting her arms were about his 



4G LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 

i 

neck. What she said none ever knew, 
but his 'honest face blushed like a rose 
and the last that Deborah saw from her 
car window, was this same face following 
her with its self-forgetting love. 

******* 

Later in the day her train arrived at 
the heart of the great metropolis. Amid 
a 'baibel of voices and under a glare of 
light she alighted in the great central 
depot. As she did so, a young man step- 
ped forward and touching his hat enquir- 
ed, "Is this Miss Bunnell?" "Yes," an- 
swered Deborah timidly, "I thought I 
was not mistaken," he replied, "I am Har- 
old Montgomery, let me see to your bag- 
gage. Your checks, please!" With that 
he lead the way to a carriage which was 
waiting outside, and having placed her 
safely in it, disappeared for a few mo- 
ments, after which he returned and jump- 
ed in beside her, remarking as he did so : 
"Just co'me down from Galilee? mighty 
pretty country up there, fine scenery, etc., 
but horribly stupid in winter. Never 
spent but one winter in the country in 
my life. Great Scot! You don't catch 
me there again — snow knee deep, ice froz- 
en in the water pitc'hers, breakfast bef ore 
daylight! Don't see how you stand it." 
Suddenly he lifted his eyes to her bon- 
net, and then let them fall gradually un- 
til they rested upon her lisle thread 



THE FOUNTAIN OF UNREST. 



47 



gloves. An amused look spread over his 
face, and he remarked, "Going to do so* 
ciety this winter, Miss Bunnell?" The 
blood mounted to De'borah's cheeks, but 
she controlled herself by an effort and 
replied calmly: "I shall probably learn 
to — wtoait do you call it? — do siocdety 
in time, Mr. Montgomery, but at pres- 
ent I know nothing about it. Possibly 
Aunt Kate and you can teach me. By the 
way — can you tell me the name of that 
pu'blic building we are passing?" "That 
house! Oh, that is not a public 'building," 
he replied, "only one of a great many of 
our millionaire's residences," and he im- 
mediately launched forth, to Deborah's re- 
lief, upon the history of several promi- 
nent city families, their establishments 
and reputed wealth, which consumed the 
time until their carriage drew up in front 

of her aunt's house on street. Here 

Mrs. Montgomery greeted Deborah with 
a great show of affection, and immediate- 
ly conducted her to her room where she 
was to change her dress and make such 
preparations as were necessary before ap- 
pearing down stairs. 

Once alone, Deborah drew a long 
breath, then looked cautiously about her. 
What a room! What soft carpets! The 
richly carved furniture reminded her of 
the interiors of certain palatial residenc- 
es of which she had read. Rugs and ta- 
pestries added an Oriental charm. She 
had never dreamed of such luxury as hers. 



48 LIKE HIM, OK LED BY THE SFIKIT. 



A new sensation rose within her and her 
eyes took on a look which the recollec- 
tion of the glory of Ichabod had never 
been able to produce, but it was quickly 
followed by a sting — so slight, that she 
wondered if sihe really felt it. Was 
it her bonnet, or 'her lisle thread gloves? 

Mrs. Montgomery was Deborah's aunt 
on her mother's side. Early in life she 
had married a merchant from a neighbor- 
ing town, whose ambition had led him to 
establish his business in a New England 
city, and later to transfer it to the city 
of New York. Here he amassed a consid- 
erable fortune by the importation and 
sale of certain foreign goods. The rela- 
tions between the two families had al- 
ways been friendly, but an invisible bar 
rier, which wealth and city life on one 
side, and pride on the other, had gradual- 
ly built up, tended for many years to 
keep them from mingling freely with one 
another. Mr. Montgomery had recently 
died, leaving his fortune to his wife and 
only child Harold, a youth somewhat De- 
borah's junior in years, but rendered pre- 
cocious, overbearing, and at heart moral- 
ly weak, by the indulgence he had re- 
ceived at their hands. 

Wihen Israel wrote his sister-in-law of 
Deborah's desires and longings to see 
something of city life, she replied, invit- 
ing her to spend several years as an in- 
mate of her home, promising to introduce 
her to the society in which she moved. 



THE FOUNTAIN OF UNREST. 



49 



Israel had at last consented, much 
against his will, and now she was here. 
The first evening at the dinner table was 
to prove a trying one for Deborah. 

"I am so glad you are to be with us 
this winter/' remarked Mrs. Montgomery, 
after the usual enquiries about the fami- 
ly and Galilee had been asked and an- 
swered. "The season promises to be one 
of the best in many years. My friends the 
Lampsons have returned from Europe and 
are to bring out their youngest daughter. 
The Benisons, the Homers, and the Van 
Werks are all here, and will entertain 
handsomely, the opera promises to be un- 
usually good." "Opera!" broke in Har- 
old, "if Miss Bunnell wants to see some- 
thing worth while, she must go to the 
Horse Show. The Colonel has booked 
his high steppers for this year, and ' Juno' 
is to be matched against 'Nellie Bly' for 
the hurdles. All the swell fellows with 
their girls will be there. By the way, 
Miss Bunnell, do you like horses? Most 
country girls do. There is the Colonel's 
daughter, a friend of mine by the way, 
she can give you points on the best horses 
in the show. The Colonel has a stock 
farm some where up in Vermont, where 
she spends her summers. She is posted 
I can tell you." 

"I fear I shall disappoint you Mr. 
Montgomery," answered Deborah slow- 
ly, "but then I do love horses. 1 
remember riding father's old white Jerry 



50 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



bareback across the pasture lots when I 
was a little girl," and then as the recollec- 
tion of it seemed to gather force she add^ 
ed, with more animation, "I never can 
resist the temptation to take a rail fence 
on a jump when I am on a good horse to- 
day. You ride, of course, Mr. Montgom- 
ery? Every man in Galilee does." By 
this time Harold was busily searching 
the depths of his tea cup and Mrs. Mont- 
gomery seeing his embarassment, quick- 
ly came to the rescue. "Harold never 
learned to ride horseback," she ex- 
plained, "you see it is quite different 
down here. Riding is mostly done by 
the jockeys I believe. The real interest 
in these Horse Shows after all is in the 
people who attend them. Quite a fash- 
ionable affair I can assure you. Yes, you 
must go to the Horse Show surely." And 
she adroitly led the conversation to other 
topics until tea was finished. When they 
repaired to the library Harold quickly 
excused himself, lighting a cigarette and 
going out to his club, leaving Deborah 
with his mother. 

"Let me see, tomorrow is my weekly re- 
ception day," mused Mrs. Montgomery, 
"I wonder if the H— 's will call. The 

H 's are charming people and very 

fashionable. What have you got to wear, 
Deborah?" "To wear!" replied Deborah, 
suddenly startled into consciousness of 
her dress again. "I don't know. I have a 
brown alapaca, and a gray serge, and then 



THE FOUNTAIN OF UNKEST. 



51 



my black silk dress. Don't you think the 
silk would be most appropriate auntie ?" 
"Black silk for one of your years!" gasped 
Mrs. Montgomery. How Israel has 
brought you up. Strictly puritanical, cut 
high in the neck, I suppose! Now Debor- 
ah, you must let me .take you to my mo- 
diste the first thing in the morning. I 
have some fine point lace for your neck 
and shoulders and she will fix the rest, 
and then your hair dear, moist girls would 
consider it a fortune. You must put it 
up leaving just a few wavy lines above 
the ears — so — and crossing to where De- 
borah sat, she lifted the dark masses deft- 
ly and held them back a moment, look- 
ing dowm at the effect. Then she came 
close to Deborah and whispered softly: 
"Eeally, you are beautiful." 

Deborah felt the hot blood mantling 
her face from very shame. She had nev- 
er listened to remarks upon her personal 
beauty before. Jn Galilee beauty was 
considered as sinful, unless sanctified by 
inward grace. Mrs. Montgomery's words 
now awoke something in her heart which 
she had striven to repress, and that night 
ais she stood before her richly ornamented 
mirror, she gave free rein to a world of 
new thoughts. 

It is not our purpose to follow Debor- 
ah during the next few years, during 
which she is being transferred into Mrs. 
Montgomery's charming neice, Miss Bun- 
nell (with the accent on the last sylla^ 



52 



LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



ble). If you were to meet her today in 
her aunt's drawing room, where the af- 
ternoon sunlight filters its way through 
ferns and potted plants about the win- 
dows, you would scarcely recognize in the 
tall and graceful young lady who receives 
you with such frankness and yet without 
familiarity, the Deborah of our old ac- 
quaintance. But you might discover in the 
depths of those wonderful eyes, the same 
unsatisfied life which was reflected: from 
the little gilt-framed looking glass at Gal- 
ilee. 

Deborah had conquered society, but at 
a cost which she alone knew. She had 
learned the art of enhancing personal 
beauty by means of dress and studied 
grace of manner, but with art had come 
the loss of much of that unconscious 
charm of beauty which is the reflection 
of heaven's purity in the heart of an inno- 
cent girl. And then she had come to feel 
the insincerity which underlies the sur- 
face of fashionable life, and to perceive 
something of the ulterior motives of 
men's admiration and praise. The blood 
of Ichabod as well as that of the Quaker 
could not long endure this. Already her 
thoughts were turning more and more to 
the simple life at Galilee and her letters 
bore evidence that her heart was still 
there. 

It was Sunday morning, and she was 
turning over in her mind the oft-recurr- 
ing question where to go to church. Her 



THE FOUNTAIN OF UNKEST. 



53 



aunt attended St. Thomas' Church with 
a faithfulness worthy of imitation, but 
left her neice free to go where she chose, 
and Deborah had fallen into a habit, not 
uncommon in large cities, of going from 
church to church, to hear the preachers, 
and, incidentally, to enjoy the music. This 
morning she found it difficult to decide. 
Taking up a Sunday paper her eye was at- 
tracted to a paragraph among the relig- 
ious notices which she had heretofore ov- 
erlooked. It read as follows: "Services 
at Christ's Mission, River Street, at ten 
o'clock. Luther Bradford preaches." 

Luther Bradford! the friend of her 
childhood! preaches? No, it could not be 
he! There are so many of the same name 
in any great city, and anyway he was not 
a minister! Nevertheless at the hour ap- 
pointed she found her way to the Mis- 
sion. 

As she entered the plain and un- 
attractive building, she felt strangely out 
of place. It seemed as if every one was 
looking at Jier, while in fact no one was 
doing so. The audience was composed of 
common people. There were men from 
the lower walks of life and women who 
bore the marks of poverty and of sorrow 
on their features. A girl sat somewhat 
apart from the rest who gazed wistfully 
at a text upon the wall. A cripple with 
pinched face and shrunken body entered, 
leaning upon the arm of his aged, but 
stronger mother. There were no ushers 



54 



LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



to conduct strangers to their seats, so 
Deborah f ound her way to a vacant bench 
at the end of the room. She was engaged 
in studying the faces about her, when a 
man entered and stepped to the platform. 
In a moment she knew him; the expres- 
sion of face, the eyes, the tones of voice, 
made her heart beat tumultuously during 
the singing which followed. Not until 
the service was half over, did she lose 
sight of the man. Then it was someone 
at her side who attracted her attention. 
A woman had slipped down upon her 
knees and was repeating to herself the 
words, "I take Him, I take Him." "Take 
whom," whispered Deborah, bending over 
her. "The Christ," answered the woman 
fervently, and it was as if a voice caught 
up the whispered word and proclaimed 
it aloud. 

You are burdened with guilt, take Him, 
You are tempted and tried, take Him; 
You are suffering in body and mind, take 
Him, 

Has life been a disappointment to you, 
take Him: 

Do you long for a new inspiration? take 
Him ; 

Have you come for help? Take the "Help- 
er" instead. 

He offers "Himself" to you t'o be your 
strength, to bear your burdens, to be your 
patience, to be your purity, to be your 



THE FOUNTAIN OF UNREST. 



55 



peace; take Him into vital union with 
yourself, and His life-giving health shall 
be yours. Behold the living Saviour, your 
Christ! 

Tears were in many eyes, and the light 
of a newborn faith now and then broke 
upon some upturned face. 

Deborah had known, or she thought 
she had, what conversion was; she had ex- 
perienced in childhood that which the 
fathers called "a change of heart," and 
had joined the church on "profession of 
her faith," but the impressions of that 
early age had faded away, and left her 
with an intellectual apprehension of the 
Christ, which failed to satisfy her. She 
believed in Him? Yes! as she believed in 
her ancestors, and she received as much 
help from one as from the others. But 
this woman at her side was in personal 
touch with the Christ. There w r as no mis- 
taking it, He was a living reality to her. 
He was offering Himself to her, and she 
was taking Him, in the bond of a wonder- 
ful love. Her face was even now ra- 
diant from the possession of another's 
life, another's love. 

Deborah was profoundly moved by the 
scene. As soon as the service was over, 
contrary to her own expectation, she was 
hurrying from the room. A hand touched 
hers as she reached the door, and looking 
up she was face to face with Bradford. 
"Miss Bunnell," he said cordially, "do you 
not know me? Do not hurry away, I want 



56 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



to speak with you," but she made excuses 
and gave him her street and number, 
with an urgent invitation to call. Then 
thinking he might misunderstand her,, she 
added, "I only knew of your being a 
'preacher' this morning, or rather I could 
hardly believe it was you. So I came to 
see." "And you are disappointed?" he 
replied. She raised her lustrous eyes for 
an answer, and hurried away. 

Bradford turned with a puzzled look 
on his face and re-entered the mission. 



II. 



FINDING HIM 

TWO years and a half had passed since 
Bradford had seen the vision of the 
Christ and had left all to follow Him. 
In that vision his own life had un- 
rolled before him like a scroll of living 
tissue inwrought with characters lumin- 
ous with prophetic light, and he knew 
that he had been called into fellowship 
with the Son of God, but as he turned to 
look within himself and beheld the chains 
which held him to the flesh, a sense of 
helplessness came over him and the sha- 
dow of a great darkness fell upon him and 
lo ! he was alone! 

No vision was vouchsafed in the suc- 
ceeding days, but as he studied the Word 
of God, a new meaning of the life of 
Christ was borne in upon his conscious- 
ness. Heretofore his thought had cen- 
tred in the divinity of the Son of God 
and in His atoning sacrifice. Now he be- 
held the Son laying aside his divinity and 
becoming a man, * u bone of our bone, flesh 
of our flesh, mind of our mind, heart of 
our heart, laboring for His daily bread, 
praying for divine grace, tempted as wo 
are- tempted, hungering and thirsting, 
sleeping, anointed with the Spirit for His 
ministry; performing His miracles in a 



* Van Dyke's "The Gospel for an Age of Doubt." 



58 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 

power bestowed by the Father, dependent 
upon the Father in all things." And as he 
looked at the virtue and spotless char a e 
ter of the Christ unchallenged and un- 
approached through all the ages, he saw 
in it God's pattern of a man through 
whom unhindered the divine life can flow, 
Such a possibility, of the divine entering 
into a human life empowering it for ser- 
vice began to dawn upon him, and as 
this thought took possession of his mind, 
the Spirit of God led him to see Jesus 
ascended on high, bestowing gifts upon 
men ; to hear the Son at the right hand of 
the Father saying: "Father, the power 
which Thou did'st bestow upon Me, to en- 
able Me as a man to do Thy will on the 
earth and to share Thy glory in heaven, 
I ask for them, my followers; yes, the very 
glory which Thou hast given me, I give 
it to them," — and he heard the answer of 
the Father, as suddenly, with the sound 
of a mighty rushing wind, the Spirit de- 
scended upon the hills of Judea to abide 
with the Lord's beloved. 

Was it strange that they should heal 
the sick or raise the dead, or speak in un- 
known tongues after this? That men, 
weak and vacillating in their faith, should 
be changed to sons of God; victorious 
over temptations, victorious over the 
flesh, victorious in suffering, victorious 
in death! No! isnch was the gift of 
power from their risen and ascended 
Lord, their princely brother, Christ! 



FINDING HIM. 



59 



And this was for Mm, he had faith to 
believe it. In the joy of its possession, he 
reckoned it as already his, and yielded 
his life anew to God. 

Immediately the anointing fell; a great 
light filled his soul. His being thrilled 
with deep and holy joy. A power, silent 
as the forces of the eternal world fell 
upon him, strengthening him, and impell- 
ing him onward, as suns are swung 
through infinite space by the omnipotent 
hand of God. 

The first effect of this change was to 
separate him from his fellows, who looked 
upon him ais unbalanced by his study of 
religious subjects, while the churches be- 
fore whom he declared how "The Lord 
had met him in the way" regarded him 
much as the disciples did Saul, when he 
"essayed to join himself unto the breth- 
ren and they were afraid." 

As a consequence he turned to the com- 
mon people. In the lower part of the 
great metropolis where the tides of life 
run strongest, and where maelstroms of 
vice sweep in their sin laden victims by 
day and by night, he found his divinely- 
appointed mission. Not that men and wo- 
men among whom he had lived, did not 
need him and his testimony, but as in the 
days of the Master, so now. They that 
think themselves whole need no physician 
and unto the lost sheep the anointed of 
God are sent. 

He frequented the piers where the 



60 LIKE HIM, OE LED BY THE SPIRIT. 

great ocean steamers load and unload the 
world's merchandise. He talked with men 
as they ate their noonday lunch and 
drank their beer from buckets which 
passed back and forth from the saloons 
whitfh lined the thoroughfare. Back in 
the closely crowded alleys he became 
even better known. Once when the 
dreaded fever broke out and the red 
signal hung at almost every door, he 
braved it all for their sakes — calm, reso- 
lute, and helpful, he stood a tower of 
strength in the midst of their sea of trou- 
ble. And there was Margie! they never 
forgot to tell of Margie, over whose ap- 
parently lifeless body he prayed to his 
God all one long night, and she was alive 
and well this day! 

A man who talked to God like that, 
could say what he choose to men; if he 
condemned them, they heard naught but 
the echo of their own hearts. Children 
loved him — they ran to him as he en- 
tered the street. They called him the " Je- 
. sus-man." 

It was in this way Bradford had drawn 
to himself a following which met from 
Sabbath to Sabbath at Christ's Mission, 
on River Street. But he was far from 
the divine ideal which had inspired him. 
His character, like some rare plants, re- 
quired a lifetime to come to fruition. 
Tender and sympathetic by nature, yet 
intense in the earnestness of his convic* 
tions, he would lead others through his 



FINDING HIM. 



61 



own Shekinak-lighted gateway, forgetting 
that "The City hath twelve gates" 
through which the redeemed of the Lord 
shall come. 

The meeting with Deborah Bunnell at 
the Mission furnished him with an occa- 
sion to do this. "The new T heavens and 
the new earth" were about him, and she 
knew nothing of it. He must tell her and 
strengthen her faith to receive the pente- 
costal gifts of the kingdom. With heart 
and mind absorbed in this thought he as- 
cended the steps leading to her aunt's 
residence on Street, a few days lat- 
er. 

Deborah met him cordially and with 
warmth which was intended to dispel any 
misapprehension he may have had of her 
conduct at the Mission on the previous 
Sabbath, but before he could broach the 
subject upon which his heart was set, she 
had led the conversation by easy degrees 
back to those early days in Galilee when 
they had played together as children and 
confided to each other their secrets. She 
asked if he remembered the day when 
they hid under the old apple tree on the 
approach of a shower and how he told 
her "thunder was the noise of God's char- 
iot: rolling up in the sky, and lightning, 
jest sparks a-flying off the wheels," — of 
another time when they sat; upon the 
bridge over the mountain brook 'till the 
shadows crept upon them, slowly filled 
the sky's great dome, and the browsing 



62 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 

cattle called them, with their tinkling 
cow-bells, home. 

Oh, yes! he remembered it all, and his 
tongue was loosed. 

"Deborah!" he said, "those days* seem 
like a happy dream to me now. So much 
has passed out of my life, so much has 
come in. I have lived years in an hour 
since then. 'Keal living after all is not 
length of life, but depth of life, not dura- 
tion, but the taking of the soul out of 
time/ and into God's eternal present. Do 
you know what that is? You will think 
me greatly changed, but I have found a 
fellowship with the Lord, which I wish 
you could share with me. It will make 
your life richer and more complete, as the 
ocean enriches and fills every inlet and 
stream with its overflowing tide. Life 
without it is so selfish. It seeks the 
gratification of our earthly nature; clothe 
it with as beautiful a garment as we may, 
but Christ when received into the heart 
changes the center of all our affections 
from ourselves to Him. 

"The supreme passion of our souls then 
becomes that which throbs in the heart 
of the living Christ. 'Holy men of old saw 
God face to face.' You and I may see 
and know Him today," and he told her of 
his vision of the Christ and what had fol- 
lowed. 

When he had finished, the sun was 
sinking below the house tops and the sha- 
dows of the lace curtains at the windows 



FINDING HIM. 



63 



lay in a tangled network at their feet. 
Deborah sat with her hands clasped about 
her knees looking across the shadows. 

"Yes," she said slowly, finding her 
words as she went on. "It is all so real to 
you, ... so unreal to me. ... If I could 
only feel as you do, but I cannot. . . . 
I. wonder if such a life would satisfy me? 
... It sometimes seems as if it would. 
Men can give a reason, but a woman only 
feels. Down at the Mission last Sunday, 
I had a feeling come over me, that my re- 
ligion w T as a sham. It has haunted me 
ever since. I know you will be shocked, 
but it is a relief to be honest, and I feel 
like giving up my religion entirely! J 
cannot enter into the fellowship you speak 
of — it is too far above me. There is noth- 
ing real in it for me to grasp. Give me 
something to do and I will do it, and per- 
haps in the doing of it ... . it will come 
... it is all dark to me now, but I will 
do the best I can." 

Bradford was silent. Had he failed? 
He arose and said cheerfully, "Yes, De- 
borah, you shall have something to do. 
You shall help me, and then," he added 
tenderly, "we do not have to do the best 
we can, He does it all." 

After he had gone, Deborah pondered 
in her heart what the meaning of those 
words could be, "He does it all." 

******* 



64 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



It was towards morning. She did not 
know the hour. She felt a strangling sen- 
sation in her throat, a kind of stupor was 
creeping over her. She made a violent 
effort to throw it off and sat up. 

A thin line of smoke was curling un- 
der the door which led into the hall. She 
sprang from her bed and with a bound 
threw open the door. There was no fire 
in sight, but volumes of smoke were pour- 
ing up from the halls below, indicating 
that the fire as yet was confined to the 
basement, and that the open stair cases 
were acting as a powerful flue. 

Her first thought was of her aunt 
whose room was on the opposite side of 
the hallway. 

She ran to the door. It was locked! 
She called! She shook the door! She 
called again, louder and yet louder! A 
faint response came from within, her aunt 
was waking from her sleep. She renewed 
her calls and pounded upon the door until 
her hands bled from the force of the 
blows. Finally the bolt slid back, and 
Deborah burst into the room and with 
hurried explanations helped her aunt to 
ascend to the floor above. There they 
paused at the head of the stairs, for what 
was it they now heard outside the house? 
The noise of the fire engines and the 
voices of firemen. Oh! welcome sound in 
their ears. Mrs. Montgomery urged their 
making the attempt to descend the stairs, 
and reach the firemen. "They never can 



FINDING HIM. 



65 



get us here!" she cried. "Oh! if Harold 
were only here, he would know what to 
do, but we shall die before they reach us! 
We will! We will!" "Be quiet," com- 
manded Deborah, "don't you see the ser- 
vants are looking at us," for by this time 
they, too, had been aroused by the unus- 
ual noise and had gathered with the rest 
upon the stairs. 

"We are safest here. The fire is below 
us. We can escape by the roof in any 
case. If they reach us so much the better. 
If not" .... the sentence w 7 as left un- 
finished, for at that moment flames burst 
into the hallway below, enveloping them 
in lurid light. "Quick! now," shouted De- 
borah, but Mrs. Montgomery stood as if 
riveted to the spot. The servants ran 
screaming with terror to the windows 
ready to throw themselves out. "Oh, 
God!" groaned Deborah, "if only some 
one were here to help;" and as if in an- 
swer to her cry a helmeted head appeared 
at that moment above the window-sill, 
and then another, and quicker than it 
takes to record it, two brave firemen were 
by her side. 

Their trained eyes took in the situation 
at once. "This one first," they said, point- 
ing to Mrs. Montgomery, and they low- 
ered her quickly to the arms of waiting 
firemen on the ladders below. Now, Miss, 
your turn!" but Deborah shrank back, 
pointing to the servants who stood wait- 
ing, and the firemen mechanically obeyed 



66 LIKE HIM, OB LED BY THE, SPIRIT. 

her. When they returned from lowering 
the last of the three, Deborah was miss- 
ing! Where had she gone? 

Shall we say it was her independence, 
or was it womanhood asserting itself 
above fear in the hour of danger that 
impelled her? Up the attic ladder she 
(sped and out upon the top of the build- 
ing. In either direction far away the lev- 
el roofs extended smooth as a floor. The 
city, bathed by the river and the sea, lay 
slumbering at her feet. A soft light man- 
tled the eastern sky heralding the com- 
ing morn— Deborah breathed freely. But 
as she .stood there her face suddenly paled 
— for she saw on both -sides of her an iron 
paling with its sharp pointed rods separ- 
ating the house on which she was from 
the adjoining buildings. She had forgot- 
ten or did not know of this. For a moment 
she hesitated, then she made the attempt 
to climb to their tops and failed — again 
and again she tried. The smooth rods af- 
forded no support for her feet and their 
shlarp iron points cut into her fingers. 
With the last attempt she fell back with 
a cry of pain, and her limbs grew numb 
and poweriesis. Her courage forsook her. 
Why had she ventured so far? Could she 
get back? 

Now ishe heard the roar of the flames 
beneath her, and turning her head siaw li- 
quid tongues of fire creeping over the 
edge of the cornice. She called aloud for 
help! She fell on her knees beneath the 



FINDING HIM. 



or 



reddening sky and upon an altar of 
flames, she prayed. 

A moment more and pain and fire were 
forgotten as One walked in the fiery fur- 
nace beside her, and God became a real- 
ity. There was a sound of voices. She 
crawled to the opening in the roof. A 
pair of strong arms reached to her from 
the attic ladder and she knew no more. 



III. 



THE DOXOLOGY OF PRAISE 

SPRING returned and Galilee awak- 
ened from its winter's sleep. The 
shrill piping of the frogs was heard 
in the swamps, and the lowlands 
changed their coats of brown for coats of 
green. A flock of "purple grackles" cawed 
incessantly from a clump of pine trees, 
and through the mist laden air, the sound 
of familiar voices could be heard from the 
neighborhood of Calvin's barn. "Didn't 
I tell you iso? The Lord's no respecter 
of persons! Israel's a-reaping the conse- 
quences of his sin. Eliza see 'em lift her 
off the cars, and she says Deborah's that 
changed she'd never knowed her. Israel's 
run clean in the face of Providence, and 
it's the Lord's judgment, that's my opin- 
ion on it. Who do you suppose fetched 
her home, but Cornelia Bradford's boy, 
and they were a-telling up at Merriman's 
last night, how he hed turned preacher 
and hed a Mission, as they called it, 
daown in New York." "If that boy has 
taken to preachin' I'd like to hear him," 
broke in another voice. "Why not give 
him an invite to preach next Sunday, Cal- 
vin?" 

"Hadn't thought of it afore. You are 
always getting ahead on me Birdsey. 



THE DOXOLOGY OF PEAISE. 



GO 



Naow your a-speaking on it, it dew seem 
like a good idee; we'll go right up to the 
parson's and talk it over. Mebbe we'd 
better go-round and tell the folks, though 
thar's no need of urging on them, I'm 
thinking." 

So the preaching service for the next 
Sabbath was arranged by these two 
worthies, but not before they had called 
on Deacon Israel and offered such spirit- 
ual consolation as the custom of the fath- 
ers permitted, in times of affliction. 

In the room above them sat Deborah, 
looking out of her window T upon the old 
familiar elms, which lined the village 
street. The swaying of their great 
branches like the "everlasting arms" 
spoke to her of the gentleness of that 
"'strength" which lends itself to the weak- 
ness of a weary child. She was tired, 
very tired, for her constant companion was 
pain, but the face, which waiS now re- 
flected from the gilt framed looking glass 
wore a look begotten of inward peace. 
During the days which had followed the 
fire, she had been much alone with Him 
who had heard her cry in the hour of her 
peril, and into His sympathizing ears, 
she had poured the story of her life, with 
all its contradictions and failures. Never 
had earthly friend listened as He. And 
now she asked: "Was this to be the end 
of it all?" "Not so, Lord!" "Not so!" she 
cried in her agtony of soul, "Bather take 
my life, than spare it thus!" But the 



70 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



Lord answered: "Nay, My grace is suffi- 
cient, trust Me." And with that His love 
so enfolded her, that forgetting her pain, 
she was willing to live, if it pleased Him. 

This changed life, manifesting itself in 
resignation, patience and fortitude under 
suffering, wrought a change also in Brad- 
ford. He was conscious now when in her 
presence of that sympathetic blending of 
thought with thought, feeling with feel- 
ing, purpose with purpose, which lies at 
the foundation of earth's closest relation- 
ships, and is at once the type and prophe- 
cy of the relationships of heaven. Each 
discovery of some new affinity, thrilled 
him with joy. One day he asked her to be- 
come the beloved depository of his heart's 
rich treasure, his heart her happy dwell- 
ing place. And Deborah hesitated — made 
no reply, for what could she bring to him 
in return for the life he had to offer her? 
A broken life, a body of pain, an inva- 
lid's chair, a chain! 

No! she loved him too well for that. 

"She would suffer for him that she loved, grow 

poor to enrich, 
To fill up his life starve her own out, knowing 

which, 

She knew that her iservice was perfect" 

And yet sihe doubted, if health and 
strength were not given whether woman- 
hood were not a greater gift than sacri- 
fice. 

As sheis thinking this, she hears his step 



THE DOXOLOGY OF PEAISE. 



71 



upon the stairs, and a moment later he is 
bending over her, with the first wild flow- 
ers of spring in his hand which he lays 
in her lap. Then he draws a chair near 
to hers and seating himself tells of his 
ramble in the woods, how he had searched 
for the old mill with its dripping water- 
wheel, where as children they had played 
on hot summer afternoons. He had 
found the wheel pit with a few timbers 
to mark the spot. Near by was his moth- 
er's old home, how fast it was falling to 
decay. Some of the windows had been 
boarded up, others were broken, and the 
winds had free access to its deserted 
rooms. The stone fireplace remained in- 
tact, with its huge iron crane, flanked 
by brick ovens, but the swallows had 
made it a nesting place, and a wild hare, 
frightened by his steps, ran from his bur- 
row under the kitchen floor. From there 
he had wandered far over the pasture 
lands, where once "the huckleberry bush- 
es ran riot, an k d meek-eyed cows shook 
music from their tinkling bells" — hut 
both were gone and the sky and earth 
alone remained the same. 

From this they naturally fell to talking 
of her whose life rendered these scenes 
dear to 'his memory. 

As Bradford told of that faith and love 
which had moulded and made him what 
he was, Deborah loved the man the more, 
for the debt which he owned to his moth- 
er. "Luther," she said suddenly, "you are 



72 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 

to preach next Sunday in your mother's 
church, and it will be your mother's ser- 
mon." "God grant it," he replied, and by 
a common impulse they bowed their 
heads together. 

Very early in the morning the good peo- 
ple of Galilee were astir, for Calvin and 
Birdsey had performed their part so well, 
that not a family from South End to 
North Corner's but were making prepara 
tions to attend meeting that day. Chores 
were done and the breakfast dishes 
washed and put away in shining rows 
upon the pantry shelves, before the clocks 
m the village pointed to six. As ten 
o'clock drew near, the stillness of the 
Sabbath morning was broken by the 
church bells which rang out clear and 
sweet, over the meadows, across the 
farms and died away in soft cadences 
upon the hillsides. 

Deborah heard them in her chamber 
and remembered that it was the hour of 
Bradford's iservice. 

Already a new life was beginniing to 
course through her veins, a new hope to 
fill her breast, born of the conviction, 
that it was the will of the Father that 
the sacrifice she had laid on the altar 
should find a (substitute in Him, and that 
she should go free, healed in body, to ren- 
der a testimony to the power of Grod, oth- 
er than that of sacrifice or suffering. 

The house wais very still, for all its oc- 
cupants, except Deborah, were among the 



THE DOXOLOGY OF PEAISE. 



73 



worshippers. Now through her open win- 
dow came floating the strains of that old 
familiar hymn: — 

From all that dwell below Uhe skies, 
Let the Creator's praise arise; 

Let the Redeemer's name be sung, 
Through every land by every tongue. 

Then a silence and she knew that Li> 
ther prayed. Her Bible lay before her 
and she turned and read from its open 
page. 

"I was glad when they said unto me, 
Let us go into the house of the Lord. 
Our feet shall stand within Thy gates, O 
Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builded as a city 
that is compact together: whither the 
tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto 
the testimony of Israel, to give thanks 
unto the name of the Lord." 

"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, 
from whence cometh my help. My help 
cometh from the Lord, which made hea- 
ven and earth. He will not suffer my 
foot to be moved: He that keepeth thee 
will not slumber. 

"Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall 
neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is 
thy Keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon 
thy right hand. The sun shall not smite 
thee by day, nor the moon by night. The 
Lord shall preserve thee from all evil : He 
shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall 
preserve thy going out and thy coming in 
from this time forth, and even for ever- 
more." 



74 



LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



Inside of the church Bradford had chos- 
en as his text, the words of Jesus when 
He came to Nazareth where He had been 
•brought up. 

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, 
because He has anointed Me to preach the 
Gospel to the poor, He has sent Me to 
heal the broken 'hearted." 

As he told them how the Lord had 
called him, and sent him to proclaim the 
good news to outcasts and captives, of sin, 
the eyes of all them that were in the con- 
gregation were fastened upon him, and 
they began to $ay in their hearts as in 
olden time: "Is not this Joseph's son?" 

As the service proceeded, Calvin was ill 
at ease, for somehow the minister's words 
suggested widow Thomas, whose farm ad- 
joined his and whose cattle were constant- 
ly breaking into his pasture and doing 
damage. He had threatened to sue the 
widow if she did not keep her fences up. 
The law was righteous, and he bad exer- 
cised patience and forbearance long 
enough ! 

"Thou sihalt not oppress the widow and 
the fatherless." 

"A new commfaindment I give unto you, 
that ye love one another as I have loved 
you," were the words he heard; and Cal- 
vin felt that the meek eyes of the widow 
Thomas across t!he 'aisle were fastened 
upon him, while in truth the widow's head 
was buried in her hands as she wept. 

Birdsey looked steadily upon the floor. 



THE DOXOLOGY OF PRAISE. 



75 



How did the preacher know that his wife 
was slaving herself to death with house- 
work. To be sure, now that he thought 
of it, she was not as strong as she used 
to be when they were first married, but 
she never complained that her life was a 
hard one, preparing meals for farm hands, 
making the butter, sitting up nights to 
mend the children's clothes, etc. He 
loved her? Y-e-s! but, Xew England 
farmers were not in the habit of showing 
their affection. Thev were simplv faith- 
ful. 

Siah Perkins, that old unbeliever and 
spiritualist way back under the gallery, 
was visibly affected, and the boys who 
sat on the pulpit stairs struggled for a 
while to hide their emotions, but now 
and then a rough eo»at sleeve would sweep 
across a pair of brimming eyes, revealing 
that the fountain of a young life had beeu 
touched. 

Way up in the choir gallery, Israel's 
face w T as beaming, his honest heart leap- 
ed with joy, as he listened to the message 
of God's love for sinful man. Without 
waiting for the announcement of the 
hymn at the close of the sermon, he 
jumped to his feet exclaiming, "Praise 
the Lord!" and instantly the old church 
rang with the doxology. 

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, 
Praise Him all creatures here below. 

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts, 
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. 



70 



LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



Calvin reached over, and taking widow 
Thomas' hand in his whispered, "That 
law suit's off/' while Birdsey walked 
down the aisle with his wife's arm in his, 
a thing which had not happened since the 
day they were married. 

Outside the church, after service was 
over, little groups of worshippers lingered 
and it was afterward known that many 
an old feud was buried that day forever. 

In the common vernacular of Galilee, 
"The fallow ground had been broken up." 

The following week isaw Bradford back 
in the city engaged in his appointed work. 
But on a certain day in June he returned 
again, and this time the village was the 
scene of festivity, for it was Deborah's 
wedding day. Yes, her wedding day, for 
from that hour in which her will had 
been yielded to God, and His gracious 
will had been made clear to her, that 
Christ should bear her infirmity, she had 
trusted in His Word, and the miracle of 
restored health and strength was 
wrought. Now she accepted life anew as 
a gift from God, to be used for Him. Un- 
der arching skies and beneath two ancient 
elms, whose branches interlaced above 
them, their lives were united, and the 
world grows better and brighter, and hea- 
ven draws nearer every day because of 
Deborah Bradford. 



FLORENCE HAWTHORNE'S 
CROWN 



I. 



THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS 

A PURPLE haze hung over the hills 
of Galilee; for the October days 
had corae, ajid furroughed fields, 
where the corn stood stacked in 
tent like rows, were crumbling with the 
first touch of an early frost. 

The uplands had turned sere and 
brown. Tall chestnut trees, with their 
rustling russet leaves, were casting their 
thorny crowns upon the ground, and oaks 
and maples glowed like altar flames upon 
the distant heigthts of Garmel. 

It was just the day for a walk in the 
woods, and Florence Hawthorne with De- 
borah Bradford were following the vil- 
lage road to the foot of the hills, where 
a grass grown cart path led through 
birches and sumachs into the depths of 
the forest. 

The crisp autumn air quickened their 
pulses. They walked briskly along the 
highway until the more difficult cart path 
was reached. Here they stopped to gath- 
er the last asters and purple gentians, and 
farther on to watch the play of squirrels, 
as they ran along the fences, little think- 
ing that their chattering friends would 
prove such entertaining guests. At 



so 



LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



length, when they came 'out upon the 
brow of a hill, overlooking the valley at 
their feet, the sihort afternoon had almost 
gone. But oih, the glories of that sunset 
hour, when the frowning clifts of trap 
and sandstone, stood transformed into 
castle walls with battlements of bur- 
nished gold! 

Florence was overcome by the beauty 
of the scene before her. Her delicate 
frame vibrated with suppressed emotioiii. 
Then she exclaimed, "To think that this 
is deatlh ! The death of the old year, ho w 
beautiful it all is!" 

"Yes," answered Deborah, and perhaps 
death would have been as beautiful and 
painless for us, had not sin entered the 
world. Luther says that beauty reigns 
in nature wherever there is perfect con- 
formity to God's laws and that when our 
lives are in harmony with God's will, the 
beauty of holiness or wholeness, will be 
upon us," 

Florence turned quickly to Deborah 
and said eagerly, "Tell me more about 
this beauty. I do so long for it, but it 
seems far, far above me." "Dear child," 
answered Deborah, "I can tell you but 
very little, the highest form of beauty to 
me is the beauty of a human soul, loyal 
to the highest conceptions of life; such to 
me is the beauty of holiness. God is an 
infinitely beautiful Being. All these col- 
ors, these grand outlines, these delicate 
variations in form and shape, which 



THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 



81 



charm our senses, and elicit from us the 
cry of beautiful ! beautiful ! are reflections 
of His own creative taste. God has asso- 
ciated beauty with His creation, because 
He delights in it. There is no line in na- 
ture which has not been touched by Him, 
which is not the expression of His 
thought. And just as He has associated 
beauty with a material world, so He has 
associated beauty with a human soul. In 
God's child, when it is permitted, holiness 
becomes transcendently beautiful, be- 
cause it is the closest reflection of the di- 
vine face.. In all the universe there is no 
face iso sweet and attractive as God's. 
Could we see the holiness of God in what 
artists call the right light, we would 
lose ourselves in love and adoration." 

Florence was silent a long time, while 
the shadows of the mountains crept slow- 
ly over the plain, and the chill of evening 
began to fall. 

"Oome," said Deborah abruptly, "we 
must hasten home. You remember Lu- 
ther has promised to read to us after tea, 
and we must not disappoint him." 

Five years had elapsed since Bradford 
and Deboraih dedicated their united lives 
to the service of the Lord. These years 
had brought light and comfort into many 
another life, by the self-sacrificting love 
of their own. Such a Gospel found its 
way, not only to the poor, but to the rich 
as well. To men and women everywhere 
burdened with doubts and difficulties, 



82 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



sins and failures, there was some strange 
sweet attraction in their message which 
can only be explained by the words of 
Him who said: "If I be lifted up I will 
draw all men unto Me." 

Bradford was often asked for the secret 
of his perpetual joy in service. Such en- 
quirers usually confessed to a sense of 
weariness in their own, and to the neces- 
sity of constantly girding themselves 
anew for the conflict. 

Sometimes they were overwhelmed 
with the thought, that after all, their 
work might prove a failure. Others were 
troubled by doubts. Life, at its best, was 
a mystery to them. Afflictions and be- 
reavements had crushed their fondest 
hopes. What did God's providences 
mean? This great problem of evil in the 
world, why did He not put an end to it? 
What was the meaning of the 'suffering 
among God's people? 

To meet such questions as these the 
Comforter has come; not, to answer men's 
doubts, but to dwell within them, as an 
ever-increasing light, revealing a glorified 
Christ, whose life received into the soul, 
gives strength and joy in service, and 
leaves no room for doubt, because the Son 
kniowetlh the Father, and maketh His 
w'ays known to His own. 

Bradford longed to tell them of this 
life in the Spirit, and as he prayed for 
such high (and royal service, the Lord 
opened the way. 



THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 



83 



Through Mrs. Montgomery, Deborah's 
aunt, the Hawthornes had become inter- 
ested in Christ's Mission, and Florence, 
their only daughter, had, from the first, 
been strongly drawn to Deborah. 

"There are persons who meet us on 
life's pathway, sent to us by God. Our 
hearts thrill responsively to their slight- 
est touch. Whole regions of our being, 
which else would have laid sealed in cold 
obstruction, burst into leaf and bloom 
and song in their presence." Such was 
Deborah Bradford to Florence Haw- 
thorne. 

Florence was a girl of earnest purpose 
and noble character. She w T as different 
from other girls. Her childhood had 
been spent in a dream world of her own 
creation. Shy and shrinking, like a sen- 
sitive plant, from every rude touch of the 
world of reality, she wandered with grow- 
ing delight in the land of fancy. 

Scott, the great romancer, east his spell 
upon her very early, and she followed him 
with a kind of rapturous absorption 
through the scenes of his narrative poems. 
The conception of hopeless tragedy and 
useless sacrifice came upon her young 
spirit with crushing weight, and haunted 
her for many days. On the other hand, 
self-sacrifice for some godlike purpose 
thrilled her to the depths of her being and 
inspired her with longings, foreshadow- 
ings of a like destiny for herself. 

The conception of Christ and His self- 



84 



LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



sacrifice also first dawned upon her 
through her world of dreams, but far-dis- 
tent was the day when He should become 
to her a living, glorious reality, the ful- 
filment of her ideal and the 'satisfaction 
of her hopes and longings. It was about 
this time, that Tennyson led her deeper 
into the heart of poetry. The music of 
his verse clung to her memory without ef- 
fort. She lived among the characters of 
his depicting, she shared their joys and 
sorrows, sympathised with their strug* 
gles and aspirations, until they won from 
her such a sacred and lasting affection, 
that any travesty upon them, or trifling 
discussion of their actions, as if they were 
commonplace mortals, grated upon her 
ears like sacrilege, and brought forth her 
ir dignant protests. 

A t last the time came when she awoke 
to find the world, in which she lived, was 
miade of common clay, and with the awak- 
ening came a cry for freedom, for life, 
for love, for the** real that conquers the 
dream. 

It was at this period in her life she had 
met Paul Henderson, the son of her fath- 
er's friend; a medical student who had 
high hopes and ambitions in life. 

Henderson possessed that combination 
of mental qualities which were harmon- 
ious with her own, and after a few 
months acquaintance it seemed as if they 
must have known each other always, in 
some far-off place in the long ago. He 



THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 



85 



read her thoughts before she expressed 
them. 

It was so restful to be understood at a 
word, by a look. Sometimes she thought 
she read him like an open page; then 
again, the unrevealed depths of his na- 
ture held back her affections. They at- 
tended the same church and -recently he 
had accompanied her to hear Bradford at 
Christ's Mission, but his heart seemed un- 
responsive to the spiritual messages to 
which he listened, while Florence Haw- 
thorne's opened wide to the possibilities 
of a Spirit-led life. 

That evening spent in the Bunnel home- 
stead in Galilee was to mark the Initial 
point in that life. There was nothing re- 
markable about the occasion or the place. 
A fire had been kindled upon the hearth, 
for the evening was chilly. At Deborah's 
feet a kitten played until it fell asleep 
with an empty spool. The great logs of 
wood isang softly to one another upon the 
andirons, while Bradford read the words 
which the Spirit of God used as a mes^ 
sage to her soul: — 

* "the mysteky." 

"Christ is in the believer. He indwells 
the heart by faith, as the sun indwells 
the lowliest flowers that unfurl their pe- 
tals and bare their hearts to its beams. 
Not because we are good, not be- 



* "The Secret of Guidance," by F. B. Meyer. 



86 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



cause we are trying to be whole-heart- 
ed in our consecration. Not because 
we keep Him by the tenacity of our love. 
But because we believe, and in believing 
have thrown open all the doors and win- 
dows of our nature. And He has come 
in. He proibably came in so quietly that 
we failed to detect His entrance. There 
was no footfall along the passage. The 
chime of the golden 'bell's at the foot of 
His priestly robe did not betray Him. He 
stole in om the wings of the morning, or 
like the noiseles'sness with which nature 
arises from her winter'® sleep, and ar- 
rays herself in the robes which her Crea- 
tor has prepared for her. But this is the 
way of Christ. He does not strive, nor 
cry, nor lift up His voice to be heard. Do 
not be surprised, therefore, if you cannot 
tell the day or the hour when the Son of 
man came to dwell within you. Only 
know that He has come. 'Know ye not, 
as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ 
is in vou, unless ye be reprobate?' (II. Cor. 
xiii. 5)." 

"It is all so strange, and marvelous!" 
exclaimed Florence, "I cannot understand 
it." 

"God's methods of working in nature or 
in souls, are always marvelous to our 
minds," replied Bradford, "we may not 
understand them, but we can accept them 
and act upon them, and so make them 
really ours. * 'If ye abide in My Word ye 



THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 



87 



shall understand the truth. True disci- 
pleship consists in first following, and 
then knowing the Lord.' " 

"Believing in, and surrendering to 
Christ lie at the foundation of the new 
life in Jesus. " "I do so long for it, for 
Him," said Florence, and tears filled her 
eyes, "but I cannot make the surrender. 
I cannot." "Let the Holy Spirit make it 
for you," whispered Deborah. "Luther 
dear, what is it Mr. Meyer has said about 
the first steps in the 'Blessed Life?' " "It 
is something like this," answered Brad- 
ford. "We are to trust the Lord to do 
for us, what we cannot do for ourselves. 
For instance, if we find we cannot give 
ourselves to God in whole hearted surren- 
der, we are to ask God to make us willing. 
To create in us a new heart, having the 
willing will of Jesus." 

"The willing will of Jesus," murmured 
Florence, "what does he mean by that?" 

"He means the same obedient spirit," 
answered Bradford. "If we study the life 
of Jesus, we can not but see how joyfully 
He followed the will of His Father. 

" 'I dame n'ot to do My own will, but the 
will of Him who sent Me. I delight to 
do Thy will, O God/ is the keynote to that 
wonderful life of the Son of God. It is 
not a servile obedience, such as is often 
rendered by us, and mistaken by others 
as praiseworthy submission. * 'Many a 



* "Abide in Christ," by Andrew Murray. 



88 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



human heart would, if it dared, cry out, I 
hate to do Thy will, O God. I hate to suf- 
fer Thy will; nevertheless not as I will, 
but as Thou wilt.' 

"The natural heart does not love the 
will of God, because it loveth not God, 
neither knoweth Him. The love of God. 
The knowledge of God. Willing obed- 
ience to the will of God were in Jesus, and 
are communicated to us as His highest 
and best gift, through the agency of the 
Holy Spirit. So we ask for the willing 
will of Jesns." 

"I think my difficulty has been to real- 
ise this," said Deborah. "I often want to 
do God's will, in my own way. But He 
its patiently teaching me. When I prom- 
ised to follow Him, He took me at my 
word, and now when He sees me helpless 
often to keep the promise, why He just 
keeps it for me! Is not that wonderful? 
I used to think religion was something to 
be believed, rather than a Person to be 
received. I used to think I must do all I 
could, instead of letting God do all He 
could. I tried to be patient and longsuf- 
fering, when it was Christ who would 
have been that in me, if I had only known 
it. Now when anger rises in my heart, I 
cry out: 'Thy Spirit, O Christ, instead of 
mine!' When tried beyond endurance, 
'Thy patience, O Lord, not mine !' When I 
have some particularly disagreeable peo- 



* "Urbane," by Mrs. Prentiss. 



THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 



89 



pie to meet, I ask the dear Saviour to 
meet them for me and in me. Often I am 
perplexed, and do not know which way to 
turn and the Lord is made unto me wis- 
dom. I used to struggle so to conquer 
my hard feelings, and my pride. Jesus 
Himself does it now. That is what I call 
the 'Blessed Life/ getting more and more 
of Jesus in the heart/' 

Florence looked long and earnestly at 
Deborah. This, then, was the secret of 
the ideal life for which she longed. The 
secret of Bradford and Deborah's joy. It 
Was not Deborah after all to whom she 
had been so strangely drawn. It was 
the Spirit of Jesus in Deborah. It was 
He who had spoken to her of the beauty 
of holiness upon the mountain side that 
afternoon. 

She could never attain to such a life. 
It was to be obtained by the renuncia- 
tion of her own, and the acceptance of an- 
other's life, even the life of the Son of 
God. What was her own life, that she 
should cling to it so? How dark and for- 
bidding it now looked in the light of the 
spotless character of Christ. Measured 
by human standards she had once thought 
herself good, but even then, deep in her 
soul, she had known that the secret love 
of self marred the motive of her highest 
service. 

Wherefore should Christ desire her to 
be conformed to His image? Was it not 
because He loved her? Looking up into 



90 LIKE HIM, OK LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



Deborah's face, for her own had dropped 
meanwhile upon her hands, she said soft- 
ly, "Pray." 

And Deborah prayed. "Oh, Spirit of 
God! Open the doors of our hearts to re- 
ceive Jesus. He is waiting to enter as 
never before. Take of the things of Jesus 
and make them very real to us. Make 
Him a living power in our lives with all 
His patience, His meekness, His purity, 
His gentleness, His strength and His love. 
Draw us with a new allegiance to His 
own dear person. Oh, Jesus, we are thine! 
Enter, O beloved of our souls! Take the 
keys of our hearts and come and go as 
Thou wilt, work within us what is pleas- 
ing in Thy sight. We give to Thee this 
proud heart, this sensitive spirit, this 
shrinking human nature. Take, posses- 
sion of thine own." 

The fire burned low upon the hearth. 
Shadows came and went in fitful flashes 
on the walls. A holy hush fell upon the 
place, and a soul which was one day to 
shine as a priceless jewel in the crown of 
the Master, was joined forever to the 
Lord. 



II. 



WITH HIM IN SERVICE 

E. and Mrs. Hawthorne were to 
spend the following summer in Eu- 
rope and Florence was to accom- 
pany them, but after the experience 
through which she had passed she no 
longer cared for the brilliant and fasci- 
nating life of the European capitals. 

Nevertheless, those lovely English lakes 
and the Scotch heather had not lost their 
attraction for her. Then there was quaint 
old Nismes and Avignon, and beautiful 
Nice and the Mentone on the blue Medi- 
teranean Sea, and Switzerland, and the 
Austrian Tyrol. Would she ever forgot 
the nights she once spent on the summit 
of the Furcahorn? It was evening, and 
the mists had lifted, revealing every lofty 
peak with its hoary crown made still whit- 
er in the silvery moonlight. The scene 
was indelibly impressed upon her mem- 
ory. Those snowy summits, so ethereal, 
leading up and up the crystal heights; Oa 
the highest and most distant peak rested 
a star, like a lone taper upon some high 
altar. She had watched the night out 
there and seen the lofty Matterhorn catch 
the first faint light of the coming day. 
Then the strange, swift, still transition! 
The silver glimmer, the delicate pink, the 




92 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



ruby resplendence! How the sunbeams 
shot from below the horizon, lighting up 
each snowy crest until it seemed in itself 
a pillar of solidified light ! She saw it all, 
in imagination, and in an ecstacy of de- 
light, which the mere memory of it awak- 
ened, she walked up and down her room, 
on this lovely spring aifternoon, with 
cheeks flushed and glowing, while she re- 
peated Miss HavergaPs wonderful lines: 

It is coniing, it is coaming, 

Thait marvelous up-summing, 

Of the loveliest and grandest all in one, 

The great transfiguration, 

And the royal coronation, 

Of the Monarch of the mountains 

By the priestly sun. 

Watch breathlessly and hearken, 
While the forest throne steps darken, 
His in vesture in crimson and in fire; 
Not a herald trumpet ringech, 
Not a paean echo flingeth, 
There is music of a silence that is 
Mightier and higher. 

Then in radiant obedience, 
A flush of glad allegiance, 
Lights up the vassal summits 
And the proud peaks all around; 
And a thrill of mystic glory 
Quivers on the glaciers hoary, 
As the ecstacy is full, and the 
Mighty brow is crowned. 

O pure and perfect whiteness, 

O mystery of brightness, 

Upon those still, majestic crowns, shed 

Solemnly abroad; 



WITH HIM IN SEKVICE. 



93 



Like the calm and blessed sleeping 
Of the saints in Christ's own keeping 
When the smile of holy peace is left, 
Last witness for their God. 

Some hours afterwards, Florence Haw- 
thorne came down stairs with a peaceful, 
happy face; she had been talking 
with the Lord, and had given up going. 

"Papa," slie said that evening at the 
tea table, "you know how dearly I should 
like to go abroad with you this summer, 
but I have been thinking it over, and I 
know I should be happier if I stayed at 
home, and tried to bring a little sunshine 
into the homes of God's poor people in our 
city. Mr. Bradford tells us that the poor 
suffer most in the summer time, when the 
churches are closed and Christian families 
go away to the country. I have been 
thinking that Jesus, if He w 7 ere here, 
would be fo'und among them, and not 
seeking His own comfort and pleasure. 
Don't you think so?" 

Mr. Hawthorne avoided a direct an- 
swer, but replied, "Come now, Florence, I 
tell you what we w T ill do. We will employ 
a missionary — what do you call them? 
'Visitors among the poor/ so that your 
sensitive little conscience can rest while 
you are abroad. I fear you have been 
making too literal an interpretation of the 
Bible, my dear child." 

"Oh, papa, what other interpretation 
can we put on Christ's commands. Jesus 
gave Himself, and it will rob me of a 



94 LIKE HIM, OE LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



great joy if I cannot like Him, give my- 
self. 'He that loveth father or mother 
more than Me is not- worthy of Me.' 'He 
that taketh not up his cross and f olloweth 
after Me is not worthy of Me.' 'He that 
fmdet'h his life shall lose it, and he that 
loseth his life for My sake shall find it.' 
Did not Jesus mean just what He said? 
Oh to be worthy of Him! To follow His 
example. I so long to be like Him," and 
her eyes glistened with suppressed tears. 

"Have you thought/' said her mother, 
"what a great disappointment this will be 
to your parents?" Florence looked up ap- 
pealingly. "Yes, mama, I have thought 
of it, and I know you and papa will miss 
me, but I can write you by every steam- 
er, and the summer will soon pass and 
then we will be together again. Oh, I 
shall have so much to tell you! Will you 
not let me stay? Oh, do please." 

Florence's powers of persuasion were of 
no mean order, and at heart her father 
and mother could not oppose the convic- 
tions of their child, so at length they re- 
luctantly gave their consent and made 
their preparations for the summer's cut- 
in g without her. 

The intervening months passed quickly 
enough. Mr. Hawthorne seemed drawn 
closer than ever to his daughter, and the 
parting grew harder as it approached. Ev- 
ery evening she nestled at his knee as he 
read the evening papers or talked over 
their journey with his wife. One evening 



WITH HIM IN SEEVICE. 



.5 



thinking it would please her, he took 
down from its shelf a worn copy- of Ten- 
nyson's "Princess/' and read aloud, as he 
was wont to do in the years gone by. He 
had reached the lines : 

"Then comes the statelier Eden back to earth, 
Then reign the world's great bridals, chaste 
and calm, 

Then springs the crowning race of human 
kind." 

When Florence's voice, unconsciously 
giving utterance to her thoughts inter- 
rupted him. "Once I dreamed it might 
be, but it was a dream. Such bridals are 
ideal." 

"Tut-tut," siaid her mother, "do not 
talk that way. True, we none of us find 
our ideals," and with a merry twinkle in 
her eyes added, "After all, men are about 
as near ideal as most women can bear 
them. Now take your friend Henderson 
for example. He is not an ideal man by 
any means but he is one so far as I can 
judge, whom any high-minded girl might 
well be proud of, if she loved him." 

"But what is love, mama?" answered 
Florence. "I sometimes think I do not 
understand it in the sense I hear it spok- 
en of. My love must carry with it utter 
devotion and self-sacrifice if need be, such 
a love that 'If he through the gate of 
suffering calls me I can meet him with 
calm eyes and footsteps fleet and lay my 
all at his dear feet.' " 



96 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



"God bless you my daughter," said her 
farther, and he bent tenderly over her, 
pushing back the dark tresses from her 
forehead and gazed thoughtfully into her 
deep luminous eyes. "I often wonder what 
God has given to us in you. The passion 
of human love finds so little place in your 
heart. The soul subdues it to some finer 
thing. Would that we all might 'love the 
highest when we see fit' " 

Florence did not answer, but after a 
while she rose and seated herself at the 
piano, and after running her fingers over 
the keys for a moment, poured out the 
new-found passion of her heart in Whit- 
tier's tender hymn : — 

We may not climb the heavenly steeps 
To bring the Lord Christ down; 

In vain we search the lowest deeps 
For Him no depths can drown. 

But warm, sweet, tender, even yet 

A present help is he; 
And faith has yet its Olivet 

And love its Galilee. 

O Lord and Maister of us all, 

Whate'er our name or sign 
We own Thy sway, we hear thy call, 

We test our lives by Thine. 

The parting came at last, and Florence 
in order to quiet the misgivings which 
naturally arose in her heart, turned as 
quickly as possible to her self-appointed 
mission. 

She visited the densely populated tene- 



WITH HIM IN SERVICE. 



97 



ment districts and with Deborah climbed 
to their attic chambers. She heard coarse 
oaths and coarser jests; saw brutal faces 
and more brutal deeds. She entered 
homes where children were born to lust 
and to crime, and were welcomed into this 
world with a curse. She heard lullabys 
mingled with blasphemies, and her soul 
recoiled with unutterable horror. Ten- 
derly shielded as she had been from child- 
hood, the foul breath of impurity smote 
upon her senses like fires from hell. She 
could not endure it! But Jesus did! He 
had left the pure and sweet companion- 
ship of His Father for just such scenes 
as these: for men and women lost and 
degraded by sin, He had died, and within 
thoise darkened souls there w 7 ere sparks 
of the immortal life which would yet re- 
spond to the divine love. 

She returned day after day to her task, 
strengthened by the Spirit, and less sensi- 
tive to the world in which she moved. She 
sought for the pearls which lay hidden 
from the world's sight and she was not 
long in finding them. 

In Deborah's mission class had once 
been a girl of unusual beauty, but in 
whose face was mirrored a life of sin and 
shame. Earnestly Deborah pleaded with 
her, and endeavored to lead her to Him 
whose blood cleanseth from all sin, but 
the girl had broken away, overwhelmed 
with feiar of discovery, and among the 
dens of iniquity, which festered in the 



98 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 

i 

neighborhood from which she came, it 
wa/s well nigh hopeless to search for her. 
One day as Deborah and Florence were 
emerging from a dark alley into the 
street, a figure brushed by them in the 
dusk which made Deborah start and hold 
her breath. 

"It is Margaret!" she whispered. "Come 
let us follow her !" 

Florence instinctively drew back, then 
offering a silent prayer for courage she 
grasped Deborah's hand and hurried af- 
ter the flying figure, which was seen to 
be disappearing in the doorway of one of 
the lowest dives in the city. Arrived at 
the spot, a scene met their eyes which 
they will never forget. 

Around rude tables were groups of men 
and women. Some were drinking, some 
were gambling, some were so sodden 
with drink as to be incapable of either. 
In the eyes of others was that serpent- 
like glitter which tells of the deadly work 
which exhilarates, then kills. Behind a 
bar, directly opposite the door, stood 
Margaret, about to pour a glass of liquor 
for a half-drunken customer. As she did 
so she glanced up and caught sight of 
Deborah and Florence about to enter. 
The glass dropped from her hands and 
she rushed to the door, closing it behind 
her and pushed them violently away. "Oh ! 
why did you come here? It is not safe 
for you here! Truly it is not. You do 
not know! You do not know!" 



.J 



WITH HIM IX SEEYICE. 



99 



"Margaret!" said Deborah slowly look- 
ing her straight in the eyes, "If it is not 
a safe place for us, it is not a safe place 
for you. Take us immediately to a place 
where it will be safe. We want to talk 
with you." 

"Oh, • what shall I do!" cried the poor 
girl. "Where can I take you! If ma once 
gets sight of you, she'll snap you." Then 
a new idea seemed to strike her, and she 
put her head inside the door and called 
out, "You Jem, take charge of the bar 
will you, 'till I come back," and turning 
quickly said: "Gome," and ran up a pair of 
rickety stairs* to the second floor of the 
building. They saw a gaudy dance hall 
and rows of smaller rooms with their oc- 
cupants as they passed, then Margaret 
ushered them into a vacant room, her own, 
and fell upon her knees. She coyered her 
face with her hands sobbing, "Oh, why 
did you come? I tried to keep it from you 
but I can do it no longer. I will tell you 
all. Yes, I will tell you," and the wretch- 
ed girl poured out her life's story with 
her tears. Her father had kept the diye 
until he died. Then her mother carried 
on the same business and added to it the 
more infamous den upstairs. Margaret 
was her slave, she did her bidding fearing 
to disobey her. There were seven other 
children younger than she on the same 
road to ruin and death. The youngest 
were turned into the street until mid 
night while the mother reaped her har- 



LtfC. 



100 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



vest of sin. Sick at heart and nearly des- 
perate she had made her way to the Mis- 
sion hoping that somehow she might learn 
a way of escape. She had heard there 
that the only escape from sin was through 
the blood of Jesus Christ, but how could 
stie escape from the life to which she was 
bound. She was helpless, Florence and 
Deborah kneeled with the poor girl and 
prayed earnestly that such a way might 
be opened speedily for her, and for her 
wretched companions. They prayed for 
her wicked mother, and as the prayer as- 
cended, the other girls listening at their 
doors slipped in unnoticed and knelt 
weeping until it became a prayer meet- 
ing such as pen refuses to describe, for 
Grod alone knows the hearts of these 
wretched Magdalens. 

At parting, Deborah said to Margaret, 
"Margaret, we will pray and will you 
pray daily that Grod will destroy this bus- 
iness and set you free? He will surely do 
it, for He is faithful and I have His prom- 
ise that He will deliver you." The poor 
girl looked up with hope in her eyes and 
said, "I believe von, and I believe He 
will." 

Bradford at once took steps to have the 
mother arrested and Margaret set free. 
He appealed to the officers of the law, but 
weeks parsed and .nothing came of it. 
He appealed again and again with the 
same result. Then he carried his remon- 
strance to the courts, but before action 



WITH HIM IN SERVICE. 



101 



was brought the judge quietly took him 
aside and told him that his case was well 
nigh hopeless. 

"Mr. Bradford," he said, "that woman 
is evidently protected by the very officers 
who ought to arrest her, and if you at- 
tempt to unearth the system of police 
protection in this city you must have a 
stronger backing and more evidence than 
you now possess. Even then, I could not 
advise you to undertake it. Stronger 
men than you have tried and failed. The 
only remedy is at the polls. Elect men 
who are above taking a bribe, and we 
will enforce the law." 

"But," replied Bradford, "should we 
not stand for their enforcement whether 
we succeed or not?" "Perhaps so," an- 
swered the Judge, "from your stand- 
point." 

"And from yours too!" replied Bradford 
earnestly, as he grasped his hand and 
looked with the fearlessness of truth into 
his eyes. 

The judge turned away, as Agrippa did 
before Paul, with the feeling, "Almost 
thou persuadest me," and Bradford re- 
turned home more thoughtful than ever. 

But before human intervention could 
save her, Margaret came running to the 
Mission with the words: "He's done it 
Missis! The business is goin' and Ma's 
that mad she'd like to kill the whole of 
us. But the men don't come no more. 
Oh! I'm so glad." 



102 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



A few days later her unnatural mother 
fell dead in an apoplectic fit brought on 
by rage at her disappointment and losses, 
and Margaret was free. Through the ef- 
forts of Bradford, the building known as 
the Deadman's Dive was purchased and 
converted into a Rescue Home and Mar- 
garet and her family established therein. 
Here we leave her, w T hile Florence and De- 
borah pursue their mission with renewed 
thankfulness to God for His answer to 
their prayers. 



III. 



WITH HIM IN SUFFERING 

SUMMER past at last, and Florence be- 
gan counting the days in anticipa- 
tion of her father and mother's re- 
turn. They had engaged passage, so 
they wrote, on the steamer "Frieburg," 
and the cable reported that the steamer 
had already sailed. During their absence, 
Florence had lived at the Bradford's, and 
tonight she is with them at the family 
altar, when the shrill cry of a newsboy 
breaks upon the quiet of their devotions. 
What is it he is saying? 

"Extra! Extra! steamer 'Frieburg' 
sunk at sea! All lost! Greatest disaster 
of the century! Extra! All about the 
collision!" 

Tlhe Bradford's were instantly upon 
their feet, but Florence did not move. She 
was growing cold. She shuddered. Her 
throat seemed congealed to ice. A con- 
fused sound rang in her ears, and she 
was about to fall, when strong arms 
caught her, and bore her from the room. 
All night long, Deborah knelt by the bed- 
side, administering such remedies as the 
doctor ordered, but it was not a case for 
human healing. Slowly the dawn of re- 
turning consciousness showed itself upon 
her face. 



104 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



"Strange! how strange!" she mur- 
mured. "Where have I been? I thought I 
was with papa." 

Then the cry of the newsboy came echo- 
ing back upon her half-awakened senses, 
and with a groan, she buried her head in 
Deborah's bosom. Deborah spoke no 
words, but pressed her closer, and still 
closer to her heart, and Florence knew 
that she was suffering with her. That 
fellowship in suffering was more to her 
than words. 

After a time, she lifted her head, and 
tears had begun to flow. "Tell me the 
worst, I can bear it now," she said, and 
Deborah told her all she knew. The 
"Frieburg" had been run into by a f reight 
steamer and had sunk, with all on board, 
within fifteen minutes after she had been 
struck. The night was dark, and so dense 
was the fog, that the colliding vessel 
could not be seen fifty feet away. Assis- 
tance was impossible in such a brief time. 
The freighter herself had barely been 
able to make port, in a semi-sinking con- 
dition. 

For days after this, hope alternated 
with fear, in Bradford's household. Each 
item of news was eagerly scanned for 
further information. Some days a float- 
ing spar, a bit of wreckage, was reported 
as having been seen by passing vessels, 
but days lengthened into months, and 
ships ploughed the seas, the busy world 
rolled on as before, and no news came 



WITH HIM IN SUFFERING. 



105 



for them. The ocean held the secret of 
this, as of many another tragedy. 

Could the broken threads of Florence 
Hawthorne's life ever knit together? For 
a time, it seemed as if life itself had de- 
parted, and left her mere existence, to 
be borne as a burden, through the years 
to come. Her only comfort was to talk 
with Bradford and Deborah of the dear 
ones who had gone; for they too, had 
known what it was to be bereaved, and 
they spoke with the sympathy of those 
who mourn. 

Moreover, they led her away from her- 
self to Him, with whom we may believe 
our dear oines are. * "For our beloved 
dead who have passed from our sight, are 
not far away. They are where Jesus is. 
Heaven is near at hand, within the mo- 
ment's flash of the Spirit's flight. Today 
thou shalt be with me in paradise.' 'Ab- 
sent from the body, present with the 
Lord.' We are nearest them when we are 
nearest Christ. Do we wish to speak 
with them? Speak to Christ. What is it 
our hearts long to know? Do they love 
us still? Yes, love never dies. Oh! press 
this to your innermost soul, that those 
whom you have loved long since and last 
awhile, love you still, care for you still, 
with a warmth of affection which kindles 
into am intenser brilliance, as they come 



* Paraphrazed from "The Blessed Dead," by 
F. B. Meyer. 



106 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



near to the heart of the eternal Father, 
the Source and Sun of love." 

Shall we see them and know them 
again? Yes. "Them that sleep in Jesus 
will God bring with Him." Just as Mary 
recognized that risen Jesus, just as the 
disciples knew Him by the the very into- 
nation of His voice, as He spoke the old 
familiar names, so we shall know our 
dear ones in the resurrection, and be 
known by them. As Jesus was after His 
resurrection, we shall be, for He is called 
the first born from among the dead. 
"Christ the first fruits, afterwards, they 
that are Christ's at His coming." 

But Florence's heart was broken. Why 
had God laid this crushing weight of sor- 
row upon her? Was she not His child? 
Had she not left all to follow Him? Was 
this "the Blessed Life" upon which she 
had entered, only one short year ago? 

* "There are two kinds of sorrow, the 
sorrow which misses its companion at ev- 
ery turn, and at each fresh sense of loss, 
weeps bitter tears, under a keen sense of 
pain; and there is the hard, bitter, unre- 
signed, and unsubmissive sorrow, which 
will not forgive God." 

Florence Hawthorne's was not of the 
latter kind. She had given herself to 
God in willing surrender. Her love for 
her Saviour was warm and strong. He 
was first in her heart. She clung to Him 



* "How to Bear Sorrow," by F.. B; Meyer. 



WITH HIM IN SUFFERING. 



107 



now in her darkest hour. But her soul 
was perplexed and 'troubled. "Father, 
save me from this hour!" Yet for such 
an hour as this, had Florence Haw r thorne 
been called. 

God knows the temper which a human 
soul will take in the fire of affliction. 
Characters of various material are placed 
in His hands for service. Some, like brit- 
tle iron, break beneath the slightest 
strain. Such cannot be greatly used by 
Him. Others, with latent capacities for 
suffering and self-sacrifice, will, like fin- 
est steel, bear the heat of furnace and the 
hammer's blow^s. Such finely tempered 
souls, God often chooses for His choicest 
instruments. "He sits by the crucible of 
their suffering and His hand controls the 
heat. He treads the winepress of their 
sorrow and His own arm is round about 
them." He carries them on His bosom 
through the long dark night, and whis- 
pers, "Fear none of those things which 
thou slialt suffer. Be thou faithful unto 
death and I will give thee a crown of life." 
They are His chosen. His elect. His own. 

When through the rifted cloud of her 
sorrow Florence caught sight of His face 
and knew that He was beside her. s>he 
arose, anointed with a baptism, such as 
He Himself had been baptized with. Her 
eyes reflected the deep sw^eet calm of her 
soul, and her chastened face spoke with 
a new and silent eloquence of its own. 

Sorrow, rightly borne, is a divinely ap- 



108 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



pointed ministry to this world. Oft-times 
we cannot see the reason why a child of 
God should suffer. At such times we 
may look for the reason in the life of 'some 
one for whom, it may be, the sufferer has 
long prayed. The child of God, called into 
intimate fellowship with the Christ, en- 
ters, not infrequently, into a life of vicar- 
ious suffering. 

Florence Hawthorne had besought the 
Lord, with strong tears, that He would 
give her the soul of Paul Henderson, in a 
companionship with Himself, but' up to 
this time her prayer had been unan- 
swered. 

Henderson was, like many another 
ma.n, conscientious in the performance of 
certain duties, which to him, constituted 
the sum and substance of religion. His 
view was taken from the human stand- 
point, and his spiritual eyes were closed. 

He naturally loved the true and beau- 
tiful, and he had sought it, in Christian 
ity, in Grecian mythology, and in the 
dim religious light of the far East. But 
he saw through intellectual windo wis only, 
and the object of his search took the col- 
or of the lenses through which he looked. 

Sometimes, in his quiet hours, he felt 
the need of a deeper, more satisfying 
life. This was often the case when he 
had been with Florence Hawthorne. 

"What was it?" he would ask himself, 
when alone, "that lifted her far above him 
and made his own words sound hollow 



WITH HIM IN SUFFERING. 



109 



in his ears?" Their spirits had once fra- 
ternized upon the same plane. There had 
been no jar, no wound, no pain, until after 
that memorable visit of hers to the Brad- 
fords, since which time she had seemed 
like another soul, possessed of the old 
charm, it was true, and something more, 
and that something was separating them 
in their deepest, inner life. He could 
not bear to think of the possible result. 

From the standpoint of ideal heroism 
he had shared her enthusiasm for mission 
work. But all the time he was conscious 
that her motives were higher than his, 
and that it was a life, not an ideal, which 
she was following. 

She had obtained from him the prom- 
ise that he would study the life of Christ 
and also the lives of earlier Christians, 
with the object of understanding more 
clearly what the characteristics of a fol- 
lower of Jesus ought to be. Out of re- 
gard for her he had literally fulfilled this 
promise. 

Before he began the study, he was con- 
vinced that historically Jesus had lived 
the life and died the death recorded of 
Him by the evangelists. But now he saw 
in Matthew's Gospel, this same Jesus as 
the long foretold Messiah. He found that 
every prophecy concerning him fitted ex- 
actly into His life. History, somehow, 
found its focal point on Calvary. 

In Mark he was struck by the wonder- 
ful miracles performed by the Son of 

/ 



110 LIKE HIM, OK LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



man. In Luke he was touched by the 
compassionate Saviour, and in John he 
beheld the Son of God, the Author of eter- 
nal life and Himself the costly Sacrifice 
for the sins of the world. 

God's purpose in sending His Son into 
the world, the meaning of that sacrificial 
life and death began to take definite form 
and character in his mind. His attitude 
grew reverent, as he pursued his study 
deeper into the Gospels. 

Weeks after this he began the study of 
the lives of the apostles and early Chris- 
tians. He found in them, the same spir- 
it that was in their Lord. They were meek 
and lowly of heart. Full of sympathy 
and love for their fell o win en. They were 
men of triumphant faith and assurance. 
They were much given to prayer. They 
pleased not themselves. They obeyed 
God. They looked to the Holy Spirit for 
immediate guidance. They endured suf- 
fering, sorrow, persecution and death, re- 
joicing that they were accounted worthy 
to suffer for His dear name's sake. 

"Show me one such Christian today," 
exclaimed Henderson, as he arose from 
his study, "and I will go down at his 
feet." It was at this time that Florence 
Hawthorne suffered. 

Months passed by. One morning as 
Florence was sitting in her room alone, a 
note was handed to her from Henderson. 
She broke the seial at once and read these 
words with a throbbing heart: 



WITH HIM IN SUFFERING. 



Ill 



"Dear Florence: — I have seen a re-in- 
carnation of the Spirit of Christ before 
which my own past life goes down in 
ruins. 

"He who has tabernacled visibly in 
your jface, must be the same One who 
dwelt in the apostles and holy men of 
old. 

"Last night I fell into a troubled sleep. 
I seemed to see you coming to me. After 
a time you left me and the Christ Him- 
self came and talked with me, and oh, 
His words were full of tenderness and 
power! Florence, I am coming this after- 
noon to tell you all." 

And w T hen he came the Lord gave Flor- 
ence Hawthorne the soul of Paul Hender- 
son as the first star in the crown of her 
suffering. 



V. 



THE CHOICE OF THE LORD 

PAUL HENDERSON, after he had en- 
tered upon a new life in Christ, felt 
that his future belonged to God, and 
the question now was: Lord, what 
wilt Thou have me to do?" His attention 
■wias particularly drawn to foreign mis- 
sions, and the Spirit seemed to urge him to 
offer himself for this work. His career 
was just opening for a successful practice 
at home. Could he make the sacrifice? 
Yes! Then he thought of Florence Haw- 
thorne, who, a few weeks before, had 
crowned the long quest of his heart by 
promising that her life should be linked 
to his. Could he ask her to make a great- 
er sacrifice than his own? Could he take 
the life of this noble, sensitive woman 
into his keeping, and lead her into a far- 
distant land, where for human compan- 
ioinship she must depend almost entirely 
upon himself? 

"O, gracious Father!-' he cried, with 
passionate earnestness, "if it is Thy will, 
make me great enough to fulfill this trust 
also ; spare her the greater 'Suffering, and 
let me bear the heavier cross." 

We do not see the hidden power at 
work within folded buds or flowers until 
the day comes when, in answer to the 



THE CHOICE OF THE LORD. 



113 



sun's call, they burst into a ministry of 
incense to the world. Such is God's meth- 
od. His Spirit works silently within a 
soul, enlarging its capacity for service; 
and one morning, such an one hears God's 
call and steps forth that day, into a life 
so uplifted and fraught with blessing 
that men stand amazed and wonder 
whence it is. 

When Paul Henderson told Florence 
Hawthorne of the struggle in his heart, 
she did not wait for him to ask her to 
go. "Paul," she said, "the Lord has told 
me that He has called you. There was 
once a plan for each of us. Those plans 
are now merged in one and that is 
enough for me. 'Whither thou goest 1 
will go, thy people shall be my people, 
and thy God my God.' Let us answer the 
call of the Lord at once." And at that 
moment the recording angel wrote their 
names beside that of Paul the apostle in 
the book which shall be opened at the 
last day. 

****** 

It was decided that the wedding should 
be in the village church at Galilee, and 
Florence desired to spend the interven- 
ing days with Deborah at the old Bunnel 
home. 

Father Israel was there and would wel- 
come them. Indeed, he did little else than 
count the days from the last visit until 
they should come again. His heart was 



114 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



at peace with both worlds, and his face 
was a benediction to all that were in the 
house. 

Calvin and Birdsey frequently inquired 
after Luther and Deborah, for they had 
never forgotten that Sabbath morning, 
when, spiritually speaking, "the fallow 
ground had been broken up." 

Something like the "latter rain," had, 
since then, penetrated the hard and ster- 
ile soil of their lives, causing an occasion- 
al tender leaf of penetence to put forth. 
They had long since forgiven Israel for 
"settin' his affections on Deborah," for 
like many others in Galilee, they had out- 
lived some of their orthodoxy. 

"The ways of the Lord be past flndin' 
out," remarked Birdsey, as he fumbled 
among the leaves of the old family Bible 
"Yes," replied Calvin, and "His jedgments 
is onscrootable. Do you know, Birdsey, 
I have been thinkin' thet the Be v. Icha- 
bod might have been mistaken on some 
of them doctrines, notwithstanding he 
lied them out of the original Greek and 
Hebrew?" 

"Spiritool things be spiritoolly discern- 
ed," answered Birdsey, as he found the 
place in the Book and read : " 'It shall 
come to pass in the last days, saith the 
Lor'd, I will pour out of My Spirit on all 
flesh, and your sons and your daughters 
shall prophesy, and your young men shall 
see visions, and your old men shall dream 
dreams.' " 



THE CHOICE OF THE LORD. 



115 



"It seems to me, parson Merriman was 
mistaken about a good many things in 
his day. Do you remember Calvin, how 
he preached agen the new fashioned 
singing when it fust come out, and how 
the singers got the best of you, when you 
lined out the psalms?" 

"Well, yes, I do recollect a little about 
it," replied Calvin, mortified at the re- 
membrance, "but," he added quickly, "I 
got the best of them w r hen I give out that 
the people of the Lord would w r ait and 
sing as David did." 

"But they didn't wait," chuckled Bird- 
sey, "and parson Merriman had to come 
out with another sermon on the sheep 
going with the goats! Israel led the sing- 
ers, you recollect, and he took that ser- 
mon so to heart, that he allers held his 
fiddle upside down after that and took no 
sort of interest in the worship until par- 
son Merriman died." 

"Contrariness of human natur' " mut- 
tered Calvin. Just then Birdsey looked 
over his spectacles with the vanishing 
suggestions of a twinkle in his old grey 
eyes, and the two dropped their heads 
in conscious recognition of their brother- 
hood with sinful men. 

Not long after the above conversatioa, 
Deborah and Florence arrived at the Bun- 
nel homestead. It was so restful to get 
away from the noisesome city and breathe 
the fresh air of the hills of Galilee. Day 
after day they sat in the shade of the 



116 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



grand old elnns, sewing, talking, planning 
for the conning event. Florence Haw- 
thorne's marriage was to be the consum- 
mation of a deep and holy love. She had 
waited until she felt that her choice was 
also the choice of the Lord. 

"Now the sweet sense of belonging to 
someone good enough, strong enough, 
and wise enough, to trust without misgiv- 
ing or fear" took possession of her heart. 
This was the summer season of her soul. 

The wedding day dawned at last, and as 
it seemed to Florence, with an unusual 
splendor. Like the poet's soul, hers had 
"kept up to'o much light under her eye- 
lids for the night;" so she arose and sat 
at her window until the sun came forth, 
as a bridegroom out of his chambers in 
the East. 

An oriole, from the swaying branches 
of a neighboring elm, poured forth its 
morning praise; "a song of love in search 
of words," and as the sun roise full orbed, 
each tiny flower and leaf and blade of 
grass, shone resplendent with the dew; 
the jewels of their bridegroom's adorn- 
ing. 

Florence spent the early hours of the 
day with her own sweet thoughts for com- 
pany. After the preparations were over 
and just before they were to take the car- 
riage to the church she sent for Paul, 
As he entered her room and she dawned 
upon him in a robe of purest white, whose 
thin folds floated about her person, like 



THE CHOICE OF THE LORD. 



117 



the misty aureole of some lovely saint; 
he paused, half wondering if through it, 
tr might dare to touch her. Then he 
caught the light of her eyes, trustful and 
radiant, as they rested upon him, and 
stepped quickly to her side. 

"The spirit turned to catch the breath of 

Vibrant love which trembleth, 

Upon the heart-strings; knoweth best, 

The language of the soul. 

That language which the lips repressed, 

Yet through the eyes shone all confessed, 

Writ as upon a living scroll, 

Which ages cannot; a;s they roll 

Bedim nor darken to the soul. 

Such were the springs that in them met. 
Which mingling once, forever set 
The tides of life, with double power; 
And single purpose, from that hour." 

Together they knelt in silence, for each 
knew the other's thought, the other's 
prayer. 

Meanwhile, the plain little village 
church had been transformed into a para- 
dise of bloom, for it ^Vas the time of flow- 
ers in Galilee, and Bradford with the good 
people of the town, were now waiting the 
arrival of the bridal pair. The old clock 
in the steeple chimed out the wedding 
hour. The little organ in the gallery 
breathed its wedding hymn as they came 
slowly and reverently up the flower- 
decked aisle; Deborah on the arm of Paul 
and Florence with the lilies upon her 
head, on the arm of dear old Israel. 



118 LIKE HIM, OB LED BY THE SPIBIT. 



The ceremony was brief and impres- 
sive: — 

"I, Paul, take thee, Florence,- to be my 
wedded wife; to have and to hold, from 
this day forth, for better or for worse, for 
richer or poorer, in sickness and in 
health, to love and to cherish, 'till death 
do us part." 

Paul's response was full of solemn joy, 
while Florence followed in a low, sweet 
voice, which thrilled all who heard it. 
There were a few tender words from 
Bradford; a prayer which lifted them to 
the foot of the eternal throne; then the 
benediction in which, the divine hands 
above them seemed also tangible. 

In the hush of those few moments, the 
glory of the divine likeness, as seen in the 
face of a bride, shone unveiled before all 
the people, and Deborah, looking up, ex- 
claimed softly, "The beauty of holiness 
is upon her, purer than the lilies of her 
crown." 



THE RICH MAN AND THE 
BANKER 



I. 



"ALL WE LIKE SHEEP HAVE GONE 
ASTRAY." 

TO the Auditorium! To the Auditor- 
ium! was the cry heard on all sides 
during the winter of 18 — . Men 
heard it upon the street. Fashion- 
able ladies heard it in their drawing 
rooms. 

It was talked of in the churches and 
along the river fronts. As' if by one com- 
mon impulse, the people of the great me- 
tropolis flocked to its largest audience 
hall to listen to the Word of God, to go 
away thoughtful, and many of them to 
come again. 

It was at this time that the rich man 
sat in his office talking to his banker. 
The rich man was the head of the larg- 
est department store in the city. It 
was said that his sales amounted to mil- 
lions oif dollars annually, and that no 
less than three thousand persons were 
in his employment. 

His mammoth emporium rose high 
above the surrounding buildings, enclos- 
ing within its iron ribbed sides a hundred 
trades and industries coined from the life 
blood of as many towns and villages. A 
stream of patrons larger than the com- 



122 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 

bined populations of these villages pour- 
ed through its gates by day and by night. 

The head of the house was often heard 
to remark that it took every cent of the 
profits to pay expenses. How then did 
they make money? was asked. The per- 
son thus interrogated, if he was in the 
business, would reply with a knowing 
look, "On cash discounts! You see Fes- 
senden & Co. are heavy buyers. They 
ask for no extensions. Are able to pay 
cash down, and in this way get an extra 
discount of five per cent, over other 
houses. 

"Now five per cent, when you are doing 
a business of ten millions of dollars a 
year, as Fessenden & Co. are, means a 
cool. half million dollars a year clear pro- 
fit!" And the questioner would go away 
with a new sense of the value of capital. 

But it required a man of no ordinary 
ability to build up and keep such a trade. 
Experience in the market, quick percep- 
tions, and executive faculties were in in- 
cessant demand. He must adapt each de- 
partment to changing conditions as they 
arose, and harmonize the whole complica- 
ted machinery of his organization a doz- 
en times a year. Others might shirk re- 
sponsibility, he never! Its full weight 
rested upon him by day and by night. 

He also knew by what means his 
smaller competitors had been forced to 
the wall, and some of them compelled to 
go into bankruptcy. He could easily un- 



ALL WE LIKE SHEEP. 



123 



dersell any house in a single line of trade, 
and make money from his other depart- 
ments. The rich man was not heartless, 
he usually offered his victims situations 
at the chariot wheels of his great organ- 
ization, but nevertheless, there was an 
ever-increasing number of clerks and 
skilled workmen, to say nothing of men 
Who live by their brains, who lost their 
livelihood by each step of his victorious 
march. 

His present concern was on account of 
a slight falling off of his trade, the cause 
for which he had traced to the meetings 
at the Auditorium. 

"I never witnessed anything like it," 
he was saying to the banker. "For hours 
during the day our business is at a stand- 
still. The people who usually come to 
town to shop, now go to the Auditorium. 
There must be some powerful attraction 
for them over there. Do you know what 
it is, Townsend?" 

"Only indirectly," replied the banker. 
"I have been surprised myself at some of 
the results. For instance, down on our 
street men are paying up their old debts! 
If you will believe it, that close-fisted old 
broker, Stein-burger, came into my office 
the other day and confessed that he had 
actually cheated me out of my legitimate 
share in the B. & O. commissions! He 
wanted to make restitution then and 
there! What do think of that? He is 
one of those who is reported to have 



124 LIKE HIM, OK LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



been converted at the Auditorium. There 
must be some great moral force at work 
to change a man like Steinburger. I have 
been thinking I would go around and see 
for myself. How would you like to go, 
Fessenden?" 

The merchant thought a moment, then 
replied, "The fact is, Townsend, I haven' r 
taken a night off for years, but business 
is dull, and I might avail myself of this 
chance to study this new method of draw- 
ing a crowd. Y-e-s, I w-i-1-1 go." 

So it happened that the banker and 
the merchant formed part of the living 
stream which poured into the street lead- 
ing to the Auditorium that same evening. 
The crowdwas made up of all classes of so- 
ciety, soft wools brushed against coarse 
cotton jackets, and women in sealskin 
sacques held close company with their 
poorer sisters in faded threadbare gar- 
ments. 

Townsend and Fessenden were obliged 
to stand, wedged in this surging mass of 
human life for half an hour, 'before the 
doors were opened. At length they swung 
back upon their great hinges, and the 
throng passed in. As soon as the mer- 
chant was seated he began looking about 
him to discover if possible, what means 
were used to attract the people? 

He saw only a temporary platform of 
boards upon which several hundred sing- 
ers, a few clergymen, and some of the 
leading business men of the city were 



ALL WE LIKE SHEEP. 



125 



seated. The main floor spread out from 
this platform like a huge fan, from the 
terminal ends of which came a dull roiar, 
like the stampede of herds of cattle on 
the plains; the trampling of thousands ot 
feet. In an incredibly short time every 
seat was taken, and to the eye looking 
upward, the galleries seemed to rise one 
above the other like the waves of a hu* 
man sea. 

What sign in the heavens had men seen 
to lead them to forsake the city's club 
rooms and theatres and come here. As 
this thought was passing through the 
rich man's mind there was a call for si- 
lent prayer. The great audience be- 
came hushed. Outside, the jingling cars 
went by; the hoofs of horses clattered on 
the paving stones, but inside, it was 
as if they were on some celestial isle 
swept by a sailless sea. 

Instinctively the banker and merchant 
bowed their heads, and only lifted them 
when at a signal from the platform, the 
audience broke into song. The words of 
this song rose from 'all sides of them, 
were caught up by the galleries and re- 
turned like the sound of many waters: 

Seeking- to save, seeking to save 
Lost one, 'tis Jesus seeking to save. 

This then was the sign which men had 
seen in the heavens; the sign of the pro- 
phet Jonas ; the sign given to a lost city, 
the sign of the cross. 



126 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIEIT. 



As the singing ceased, a man, who had 
hitherto been hidden from view, stepped 
to the front of the platform, and a half- 
suppressed murmur ran over the house, 
for the people knew him. It was Brad- 
ford of Christ's Mission. 

When had the city ever listened to the 
parable of the Lost Sheep or to the story 
of the Prodigal Son, as they listened that 
night? Tears streamed down many faces 
as he spoke of the heavenly Shepherd 
seeking His lost sheep upon the moun- 
tains of sin. His voice shook with emo- 
tion as he depicted the scene of the fam- 
ishing, homesick boy among the swine. 

When he came to the prodigal's con- 
fession, contrition, and home coming, 
and told how the father s>aw his boy a 
great way off, ran to meet him, welcomed 
him with a forgiving and forgetting kiss, 
covered him with the new robe of his own 
righteousness, and gave him "the ring of 
assurance and the shoes of peace;" there 
were strong men in the audience who 
sobbed like little children. 

Suddenly the speaker's voice changed, 
his words came swift and fast, vibrating 
with impassioined utterance: " 'Woe unto 
you who make clean the outside of the 
cup and platter, but are within full of ex- 
tortion and excess! Woe unto you who 
load men with burdens grievous to be 
borne and ye yourselves touch not the 
burdens with one of your fingers !' You 
are not among the prodigals! You pass 



ALL WE LIKE SHEEP. 



127 



for honest men! Would your honesty 
stand the test if He were to lay bare your 
business relations?" 

"You are an employer! are you mak- 
ing life hard and bitter for those under 
you? You are a lawyer! are you aiding 
and abetting a crime, or shielding the 
wrongdoer, or enabling the rich default- 
er to escape the penalty of the law? 

"Last week a man dropped dead upon 

Avenue, his wife, a pale, emaciated 

woman, bent over him, kissing his up- 
turned face, w T hile his children clothed in 
rags, clung sobbing to her skirts. 

"A crowd collected aboi^t them. A po- 
liceman, w r ho had hurried to the scene, 
elicited these facts. The man had died 
from starvation! None of them had had 
food for twenty-four hours. They were 
not beggars. They w 7 ere not criminals. 
They w 7 ere simply poor. The man had 
been a small merchant, and once had a 
good paying business, but competition 
drove him into bankruptcy, then he hired 
out to a larger firm, but soon it became 
necessary for this firm to close its doors. 
Only a few 7 clerks and assistants could 
be provided for, and the man w 7 as left to 
shift for himself. From place to place he 
wandered, seeking employment. The mar- 
ket was filled with just such men as him- 
self. He ran his chances with the rest. 
He was not possessed of genius, and could 
not make a living by his wits, so little by 
little he fell into his place as one of the 



128 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



great multitude who live from hand to 
mouth, irregular workers, dependent up- 
on odd jobs. He moved into smaller and 
smaller quarters, lived on less food, 
wrapped his thin coat about him, patched 
and mended, and so eked out a bare exis- 
tence, sickness came; one day there 
was no money in the house and no food! 
The man walked the streets seeking any 
kind of work at basement doors. No 
one wanted to employ such a man. He 
did not look able to do the work! 

"Kind hearted people advised him to go 
to some charity organization, but he did 
not go. He preferred to starve. 

"The third day, driven like a wild beast 
from his den, he trudged across the city, 
taking his wife and children with him, 
to prove his destitution to the proprietor 
of a beer garden, who had promised him 
work, but had failed to supply it. As he 
reached the Avenue pouring its stream of 
wealth, like a river of gold, through the 
heart of this city, he reeled, leaned heav^ 
ily upon his wife, then fell to the ground. 
He was dead! 

"It maitteris little that the sympathetic 
crowd siho'wered silver into the woman's 
lap, or bestowed buns and candies upon the 
children. The cause of the trouble was 
untouched. Back in the tenement dis- 
tricts, tragedies like this are of common 
occurrence, and God will hold some of you 
accountable, in the last great day, for a 
condition of society which makes possible 



ALL WE LIKE SHEEP. 



129 



such tragedies in this most Christian city 
of America. O men! turn and repent, I 
beseech you, before it is too late." 

Bradford's voice grew tender and his 
words were choked with tears as he plead 
with the rich men, as before he had plead 
with the prodigals. 

Fessenden was cut to the quick. The 
preacher must have known his inner life, 
how else could he have spoken directly 
to him? He was angry with himself. He 
was angry with the preacher, and as soon 
as the speaker closed, he arose quickly 
and went out, without so much as speak- 
ing to Townsend. 



II. 



THE BANKER'S OBEDIENCE 

AMOS TOWNSEND sat in his office 
itlhe next mwndng in a, thoughtful 
frame of mind. Before him on his desk 
lay the articles iof agreement for a 
new consolidated railway company. This 
agreement had been drawn up by his at- 
torney, for his examination and approv- 
al, before submitting it to the companies 
whose interests were involved. 

He ran his eyes over the paper. He read 
slowly, and frequently paused, lapsing in- 
to periods of deep thought. This he had 
never been known to do before. 

It should be stated that the new rail- 
way company was to be formed by the 
consolidation of as many lines as could 
be persuaded or forced to unite under one 
head. The rapid growth of the city, with 
the development of its suburban towns 
and villages had called into existence 
many new lines whose service while not 
so satisfactory to the public as might be, 
yet was reasonably good and fast becom- 
ing better. The companies which owned 
these lines were doing all in their power, 
but not having a large capital at their 
command were often driven to the wall 
by the older and well-established lines, 
which were quick to take advantage of 



THE BANKER S OBEDIENCE. 



131 



every opening whereby they could secure 
a larger share of the public patronage, 
and pay a greater dividend to their stock- 
holders. 

Of one of these companies Townsend 
was president. Its tracks already cover- 
ed one-sixth of the entire mileage of the 
street railway systems, and it was rapidly 
acquiring more. Its Board of Directors 
had a careful estimate made for them 
and they found that the entire passenger 
travel of the great city was over a mil- 
lion a day. This meant eighteen millions 
of dollars per year income. 

To direct as large a share as possible of 
the profits of this enormous business into 
their own pockets and those of their 
stockholders was the object which the 
Directors of Townsend's company had set 
their hearts upon. Hence the movement 
for consolidation. But it would not do 
for them to appear openly in this light. 

It was represented as a matter of neces- 
sity, by which the public would be greatly 
benefitted. They would have better facili- 
ties, more comfort and fewer inconven- 
iences. 

The cost of travel would be greatly re- 
duced. This latter would prove of most 
benefit to the working classes who could 
by means of it make for themselves 
homes outside of the city and enjoy a de- 
gree of health and comfort heretofore im- 
possible to them. 

This view had been so continually kept 



132 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



before the public, that the directors were 
in receipt of numerous congratulatory let- 
ters upon the benevolent aspects of their 
enterprise. 

As Townsend now studied each para* 
graph of the agreement before him, he 
was troubled. Once he would have pass- 
ed them over without serious thought. 
There were reservations and concessions 
to his own company, and he knew that 
these entailed a burden upon the weaker 
companies. 

As a keen sighted business man he 
knew also the probable outcome would 
be that the weaker companies could not 
long stand up under it, and would be 
obliged to sell out. Then would be the 
time for his company to buy in, and at 
their own price. 

Was such a termination of affairs ab- 
sent from the plans of his directors? No! 
Had it not been hinted at in their last 
meeting? His attorney had simply em- 
bodied their views in the terms of agree- 
ment. 

But he is not now thinking of his own 
company, he is thinking of others. Those 
weaker ones. Had he not as a banker, 
acting for his clients, invested their funds 
in these same companies? Some of them 
w r ere not rich. They had families to sup- 
port. A financial loss would entail depri- 
vation to those dependent upon them. 
Was it honest? When these same men 
saw their losses go to swell the gains of 



THE BANKER'S OBEDIENCE. 



133 



his company, what would they think of 
him? What would God think of him. 
What did God think of him? For with 
the Almighty there is no past nor future 
— hut all things are viewed as in an eter- 
nal present. 

Never before had he so weighed the in- 
direct effect of his official acts. The di- 
vine balances seemed suspended before 
him, and as he laid one after another of 
his deeds therein he beheld them kick the 
beam as the current coin of heaven was 
laid shining upon the other side of the 
scale. 

Now, Amos Townsend was a man of 
decision. He touched an electric button 
on his desk and summoned his steno- 
grapher. For fifty minutes they were 
closeted together, at the end of which 
time a messenger was despatched to his 
lawyer bearing the amended articles of 
agreement. 

As they now read, there were no reser- 
vations or concessions to his own com- 
pany. The terms of the agreement were 
rewritten upon an entirely new principle, 
viz.: "that the strong should bear the bur- 
dens of the weak," and as Townsend lean- 
ed back in his chair after the messenger 
had gone, he felt a sense of divine approv- 
al, which was to go with him for many a 
day. 

It is needless to say that the next meet- 
ing of the Board of Directors was a 
stormy one. 



134 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



^ T hen the revised articles were read, 
there was a degree of astonishment writ- 
ten upon their faces which it would be 
difficult to describe. 

"It is not practicable to base business 
upon moral or ethical principles/' re- 
marked Adams. 

"Business is business, and the bus- 
iness world has well-established princi- 
ples of its own which have worked well 
for hundreds of years," chimed in Brock* 
ett. . 

"Leave the question of responsibility 
to the preachers," snapped out Heiffinger. 

"Yes," said Webber, "a railway corpor- 
ation is not a Sunday school or a charity 
organization for the purpose of illustrat- 
ing the workings of the golden rule." And 
so it went on. 

Townsend remained quiet during all 
these remarks. He had no desire to awak- 
en further hostility, as anything he could 
have said would have done. He simply 
waited and at the end of the discussion 
said, "I think the matter had better lie 
over for another week. We shall have 
time to look into it more carefully, and 
weigh some considerations which have 
not been taken into account as yet. 

"As for myself, I shall be glad to talk 
with any of you during the week concern- 
ing the reasons which have led to my ac- 
tion, reasons which, while they may not 
meet with your approval, will, I am sure, 
entitle me to your respect and confidence. 



THE BANKER'S OBEDIENCE. 



135 



"You know I became your president 
much against my o wn wishes and at a time 
when it required no little financial sacri- 
fice on my part. I am prepared to make 
farther sacrifices for the mutual interests 
of the new organization. I have arrived 
at a decision which will probably affect 
all my future actions. It is nothing less 
than to seek to know God and obey 
Him." 

The meeting came to a sudden close af- 
ter this. A new atmosphere had been in- 
troduced and all but one seemed desir- 
ous to get out. 

As Adams locked arms with Brockett 
on the street below he whispered confi- 
dentially, "Don't you think something is 
the matter with Townsend's head? He 
has been at the Auditorium. There's the 
trouble. Townsend used to be the most 
level headed man we have on the Board 
and we can't get along without him. He 
carried us through that financial panic 
in the seventies and he and his friends 
own a controlling interest today in the 
new' company, suppose we let the thing 
go. We can quietly fix things bv and 
by." 

Adams advice was finally taken by his 
fellow directors, and at the adjourned 
meeting held one week later, the amend- 
ments with one or two minor changes, 
went through without opposition. 



III. 



THE RICH MAN A BANKRUPT 

ALEXANDER FESSENDEN returned 
to his home from the Auditorium, 
angry with himself, and angry with 
the preacher; but sit rive as he 
would the Spirit drew him again and 
again to the same place, until unable 
to bear the conflict which was going on 
within ( him any longer; he sought 
out Bradford land asked for a, per- 
sonal interview. Bradford invited him 
to his own house, and as soon as the 
door clo'sed behind them the merchant 
sank into a chair, saying as he did so, 
"Mr. Bradford, I am worn out, in body 
and mind, and I have come to you as the 
only man I can talk with about it. I 
need rest and the consolation of religion 
if there 'be any. It is one thing to talk 
about religion; it is another to make 
a man desire it. People say that I am 
successful and that I ought to be satis- 
fied, but I a.m not. What have I to show 
for fifty years' hard service! Property to 

the amount of $ ; well, I will 

not say — but I have to work harder to 
keep what I have, than I did accumulat- 
ing it, and as for rest ! I have not seen a 
day's rest in all these fifty years! Some- 



THE RICH MAN A BANKRUPT. 



137 



times I think I will retire from business, 
but I do not know what I should do with 
myself, travel for a year or so and come 
back wishing I had never gone. Perhaps 
I am growing old. Physicians tell me J 
have seen the best part of my life, and 
preachers warn me to be prepared for 
the inevitable change, but what is death 
to me, Mr. Bradford! It is nothing more 
or less than closing up shop; putting up 
the blinds, pulling down the curtains, 
then night and all is dark! Do I believe 
in a hereafter? Yes! but what would 
your heaven be to me, a business man! 
I am not sure that I could stand it, unless 
there was a market for some kind of 
goods up there, where I could figure on 
margins and cash discounts now and 
then. You smile! I am serious. I mean 
just what I say. I do not believe death 
will change my character. 

"Mr. Bradford, you have found the se- 
cret of satisfaction and rest in this life, 
and I want it, not for the hereafter, but 
for now. I would give a million dollars 
to possesis it!" 

"You shall have it," answered Brad- 
ford, springing up and grasping the mer- 
chant's thin, cold hand in his. "You shall 
have it now and here. I offer it to you 
in the name of my Master. Listen! 'Come 
unto Me all ye that are weary and heavy 
laden and I will give you rest.' " 

"But the conditions," interposed Fes- 
senden. 



138 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



"The conditions are, 'Take My yoke 
upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek 
and lowly in heart and you shall find rest 
unto your souls.' " 

"Ah, yes/ 7 answered Fesisenden, weari- 
ly, "His yoke! What does He mean by 
His yoke. I do not understand the ferra!" 

"He means the business He is engaged 
in," replied Bradford. "When you enter 
into partnership with a man, you are 
yoked together, are you not? Now Christ 
says, 'Come into partnership with Me, 
take My yoke upon you, we will be yoked 
together for your life's work. Mr. Fes- 
senden, you have worn the world's yoke 
for fifty years. It is a hard one. It has giv- 
en you no resit. Take Christ's yoke. 
Yield yourself to be taught of God, to be 
guided by His superior wisdom and will. 
Humbly and meekly seek to learn the 
Father's business and you will find rest 
and satisfaction. Believe me, I know of 
what I am speaking. This is the secret 
which you think I possess, and it is yours 
as well." 

The man reached for his hat, saying 
sadly, "That means I must begin life over 
again, I am too old, too old for that. Mr. 
Bradford, I thank vou for speaking the 
truth. I shall think of it." 

Bradford quickly reached out and took 
his hand, saying, "Do not go Mr. Fessen- 
den! Teil me, were you ever a child? Of 
course you were. Did you have a good 
father and mother?" 



THE EICH MAN A BANKRUPT. 



139 



"The best that ever lived," answered 
the man, while a softer shade spread over 
his countenance, for Bradford had uncon- 
sciously touched the one tender chord in 
his heart, and set it to vibrating with for- 
gotten memories. 

"Were .you not better" satisfied as a 
child in your father's house than you have 
been since as a man in your own?" 

"Perhaps so, up to a certain time." 

"When did you begin to be dissatis- 
fied?" 

"When I thought I knew more than 
the old man and, well, you see father 
owned a farm and a woollen mill up in 
Connecticut. I never knew him to make 
a thousand dollars a year, but he had 
great faith in the future of that mill and 
wanted me to stay by him and carry on 
the business, but I thought differently, 
and I ran away to Boston where I learned 
the dry goods trade. It nearly broke the 
old man's heart, but he thought better of 
it some years later, when I set up in busi- 
ness for myself and sent him the largest 
order on the mill he had ever received; 
but, but," and the rich man hung his 
head, "it was not all fair sailing. I failed 
in business once — that was many years 
ago. Father came to the rescue and mort- 
gaged the old farm and mill to pay my 
debts, Mr. Bradford, I would give a mil- 
lion dollars to pay back that mortgage, 
but I cannot. Father died not long after 
and mother soon followed him. I believe 



140 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



it was the disgrace, as they called it, 
which killed them. Father prided him- 
self upon his honesty. 'No Fessenden,' he 
used to say, 'ever owed a man a dollar, 
and no Fessenden ever should.' " 

"My dear friend/' broke in Bradford, 
"is there no one else whose property has 
been mortgaged to pay your debts?" 

"What do you mean," answered the 
merchant, looking the minister sharply 
in the face. 

"I mean that you have failed and God 
has paid your debts," 

Fessenden was silent for a long time. 
When he spoke again it was with con- 
scious effort. "I know, failure and bank- 
ruptcy in God's 'sight — liabilities increas- 
ing every d>ay— assets will not pass the 
bank of heaven, this thought has been 
hanging over me for months. You say 
God has paid them! How do you know 
it? What reason had He to assume my 
liabilities?" 

"The same reason your father had to 
mortgage his farm and mill for you. He 
loved you. 'God so loved (Alexander Fes- 
senden), that He gave his only begotten 
Son.' 'All we like sheep have gone astray, 
we have turned every one to his own way, 
and the Lord has laid on Him the iniqui- 
ty of us all.' " 

"And there is nothing I can do," mur- 
mured the rich man. 

"Nothing but accept the finished work 
of Christ," answered the minister. "Your 



THE RICH MAN A BANKRUPT. 



141 



securities will not pass up yonder. 
Christ's sacrifice will, and He has depos- 
ited it with the Father for just such an 
emergency in your life as this. Will you 
accept Him as your Bondsman?" 

Fessenden's hands clutched the sides 
of his chair and his face revealed the con- 
flict going on within. At length he rose 
slowly to his feet, and said in a low dis- 
tinct tone, "Mr. Bradf ord, this is the great- 
est transaction of my life. I — a bankrupt 
before God — Jesus Christ my surety." 
Then suddenly breaking down he cried 
out, "Pray for me!" Both men went 
down upon their knees, but the rich man 
was first at the Throne of Grace, and his 
face was as the face of one forgiven, 
Bradford slipped away into another room. 

Those who visited the merchant's of- 
fice the next Monday morning might have 
seen upon his desk a slip of paper bear- 
ing these words. "I have this day made 
an assignment of my business to the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and I shall endeavor to car- 
ry out His instructions henceforth for 
the benefit of my fellow men. » 
(Signed) "Alexander Fessenden." 

Dated, February 15th, 18 — . 



IV. 



ENTERING THE KINGDOM AS A LIT- 
TLE CHILD. 

FROM the day that Amos Town-send 
decided to seek and to obey God, 
the Spirit had led him, surely and 
safely, toward the goal of disciple- 
ship. Townsend had thought only of the 
position of a servant, when there was 
waiting for him the place of a friend who 
knoweth what His Lord doeth. But such 
friendship means likeness to the Master. 
Inside that elect circle, sin is felt not; so 
much in transgressions of the law as in 
the spirit of alienation from the Father; 
and service is rendered not so much in 
O'bedience as in joyous acquiescence. As- 
sociated with Christ he was to know 
His sweet approval's, to be girded with 
His power, aind to become like Him. 

One memorable afternoon as he stood 
looking from his window upon the street 
below, where two living streams met 
aind piarted lait the marble columns 
of the building in which his offices 
were located, he noticed a man sepa- 
rate himself from the crowd and stand 
gazing up !at his windows. He turned 
to his desk somewhat annoyed. A 
moment later one of the clerks in- 
formed him that a man had come into the 



ENTERING THE KINGDOM. 



143 



outer office and wished to speak with him. 
"Send him to the Superintendent/' re- 
plied the banker. 

"But sir, he will see no one but jour- 
self, and he says he has a message to de- 
liver to you." 

"Well then, let him in," said the bank- 
er, wearily, as he turned again to his 
writing. 

When the man appeared, Townsend, 
without looking up, bade him state his 
errand. "If you please, sir, will you come 
and see one that's dying!" 

"Dying, who is he?" 

"Tom the Australian," and begging 
your pardon, sir, he looks enough like 
you to be your brother." 

Townsend was startled and looked up. 
The man continued, " 'Tis himself that's 
been saying it since night afore last, but 
his head's that weak and wandering, sir, 
he's not knowing the half that he says." 

The color left the banker's face as the 
man talked on. He had a brother once, 
and that brother had broken his mother's 
heart. His father had forbidden his name 
even to be mentioned in the home. The 
disgrace which he had brought upon the 
family was borne in silence for many 
years, then buried beneath the world's 
forgetfulness. 

Tom had drifted to parts unknown. 
When last heard from, he was in Aus- 
tralia leading the sarnie sad dissipated life 
— better if he had been dead. 



144 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



Townsend was now fully aroused and 
quesftioined the messenger closely to elic- 
it more information. He learned that the 
man called Tom from Australia, had been 
employed on the road but a few months, 
and had been taken ill at Oar Stables No. 
9. He was believed to be dying and in 
his delirium had repeated his name. He 
had called him his brother. The clue was 
sufficient at any rate to warrant an inves- 
tigation, and he promised the man that 
he would come. 

An hour later a dab w'as summoned 
and driven rapidly to Gar Stables No. 
9, where the 'banker w&s conducted 
to a loft filled with sacks of grain. 
Here groping his way in the dark he ar- 
rived at the farther end of the room, 
where by the dim light which struggled 
through a broken skylight in the roof, ha 
saw the outlines of a man lying upon 
some bundles of straw in one corner. In- 
stinctively he drew back, then advanced 
cautiously and bent over the prostrate 
figure, gazed long and earnestly at the 
features half hidden in the gloom below. 
What did he see? Slowly, as from the 
ashes of the past, arose from thloise sha- 
dowy outlines a picture of two little boys 
with their tired heads resting upon a 
snowy white pillow. There was a blush of 
innocence upon their cheeks, and the fresh 
impress of a mother's kiss. The scene 
changed, now he saw a city mansion bril- 
liantly lighted upon a Christmas night. 



ENTERING THE KINGDOM. 



There wais felasitiaig within, and without 
stood a beggar at the door. He heard the 
rude response, and siaw the man look at 
the name upon the door plate, then sitag- 
ger to the street with a curse upon his 
lips. The scene changed again. This 
time it was a barren waste, and one sat 
clothed in rags, and around him were t'he 
cattle and the swine. He was looking 
into their mute eyes, and sharing Uheir 
coarse food when an angel seemed to 
touch him! A great groan escaped from 
the banker's breast, he bent lower and 
whispered, "O, Tom! forgive me!" , 

At the sound o ( f that voice, the man 
stirred, awoke, looked up in his brother's 
face, then turned and hid his own in 'the 
straw; and Townsend, not knowing what 
he did, knelt upon the stable floor and 
laid his head beside the prodigal's. 

The sun sank lower in the west. A sin- 
gle ray of 'light penetrated the darkness 
of that attic room, lingered for a moment 
like the mother's kiss upon their cheeks, 
then vanished like a messenger from 
God. 

Tom did not die. He lived to share the 
banker's home, to wear the purple robe, 
with the ring of assurance, and the shoes 
of peace, but the greatest blessing of that 
hour upon the stable floor came to Town- 
send and not to Tom. In the days and 
months which followed, days when hp 
sat by his brother's iside, and heard his 
broken confessions, there came to him 



146 LIKE HIM, OB LED BY THE SPIBIT. 



the Spirit of the Master and he entered 
anew into the kingdom of heaven, and 
this time as a little child. 

It was G'od's way of calling the b'anker 
to a life of personal service, and when 
the call came, he who had promised obe- 
dience, was conscious only of the impell- 
ing power of a new-found love. 



LED BY THE SPIRIT 



/ 



L 



A RETROSPECT 




UTHER BRADFORD first met the 
Lord upon a mountain top and in a 
vision. His early training and sub- 



sequent education had, at that per- 
iod of his life, brought him to the point, 
where above all else, he longed for a 
knowledge of the truth, and Christ had 
appeared to 'hini as the Truth. 

Not as the truth of the understanding, 
but as the divine Reality; the substance 
and source of all truth; the complement of 
his need; the fountain where his thirst- 
ing soul might drink forevermore. 

As he yielded himself to Christ, lo, a 
transformation ! The truth was within 
him. Down deep in the secret roots of 
his being he felt its throbbings. This 
spirit of truth led him to the Scriptures 
and illuminated its pages. He saw his 
own portrait outlined against the spotless 
virtue of the sinless One, and he also 
heard the Master's call to arise and follow 
Him. Human reason declared it to be 
impossible. But the tenant of his soul 
led him to look away from himself to the 
ascended and glorified Jesus. * "Who 
stood at the right hand of Grod in our 



* "The Spirit of Christ," by Andrew Murray. 



150 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



place and in our behalf, His human na- 
ture constituting the receptacle and dis- 
penser of the divine Spirit, so that He 
could coime down as the Spirit of the glori- 
fied Jesus to be in each one who believes 
in Jesus, to stream into us, to stream 
forth from us in rivers of blessing." 

Turning from all human counsel, Brad- 
ford by an act of simple faith, appropria- 
ted the gift -of this divine life, and im- 
mediately the anointing fire fell. His life 
was in miracle and in power. The poor, 
the degraded, the outcasts became his 
brothers. The fever-stricken plague spots 
in the city his home, but he walked in the 
midst of it all, as an inhabitant of the 
celestial world, and his garments did not 
so much as smell of the fire. 

* ***** * 

One cold winter night a tall, handsome 
girl, with manners which bespoke a lady, 
but clothing which an outcast would 
wear, entered the Mission and told her 
story without waiting to be questioned. 
It was a strange and sad story, one which 
is being daily enacted in every large city. 

Elizabeth Ellsworth, the innocent child 
of fond parents across the sea, her father 
a clergyman of small means, had left the 
parental roof to become the companion 
of a lady of wealth sand fashion. Here 
at her table she first tasted wine. With 
her she attended the theatre and the race 



A RETROSPECT. 



151 



course, and in her drawing room met the 
man who, under the cover of respectabil- 
ity, allured her from the path of virtue. 
Trusting in his promise, she had followed 
him from place to place, only to be desert- 
ed ait last, thousands of miles from home 
and in a strange land. Her character was 
gone, and she was destitute. 

One door stood open to her, and though 
its steps led down to the pit, she entered 
it for shelter and the food it offered her, 
But her conscience gave her no rest, and 
she had fled to the Mission at last for re- 
fuge. 

Bradford, looking at this sinning and 
sinned against woman, felt his heart 
yearn over her, as over a daughter. He 
took her home to Deborah until she could 
hear from her parents. A letter had been 
dispatched and no answ 7 er had yet arrived 
when one dark day, never to be forgotten, 
Elizabeth met the man who had caused 
her ruin, and yielding to the fascinating 
power which he still had over her, $he dis- 
appeared without a moment's warning. 
Long and painfully they searched for the 
missing girl without success. She was 
hidden, they knew, in some gilded den of 
iniquity, and their only hope of finding 
her was when she should be turned out 
upon the street to perish. One day as 
they were passing a wretched apartment 
house the frenzied cries of a woman's 
voice caused them to stop and enter the 
door. 



152 



LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



At first they could scarcely see for the 
apartment was lighted only by a broken 
window, and this was partly filled with 
rags, and old stockings, to keep out the 
cold. At length they discerned on a rick- 
ety, worm eaten bedstead, which creaked 
and groaned under her weight, the woman 
whose cries had attracted them. They 
approached nearer; then stood still! 
There lay Elizabeth Ellsworth with her 
hair unbound and streaming over her bare 
shoulders, and in her delirium and degra- 
dation the outward form was yet beauti- 
ful to look upon. 

Her eyes glittered with feverish light. 
As she caught sight of them she raised 
herself, crying out, "Go away! I know 
you! I am in hell! In hell! O, give 
me drink! Give me drink! Ah, you prayed 
with me! Pa, he used to pray. Ha! Ha! 
Prayed — prayed — prayed ! No praying 
now! I will kill myself! I will! I will!'' 
And she drew a knife which had been 
concealed in her bosom and flourished it 
albove her head. 

Deborah lifted one swift cry to heaven 
for strength and sprang forward to grasp 
her arm. It was a fierce struggle for the 
mastery, the maniac fighting with failing 
strength until the knife was wrested 
from her. 

Then, pale and trembling, she threw 
(herself upon the frenzied woman, and 
with her arms clasped about her, kissed 
those burning cheeks until the fire melted 



A EETEOSPECT. 



153 



in the feverish eyes, and great sobs broke 
from the heaving breast. 

After this, Elizabeth was carried in an 
ambulance to the hospital, where she lay 
for w^eeks hovering between life and 
death, but never again on the brink of 
despair, or of self-destruction. 

The aged father came at length from 
across the sea and very touching w^as the 
meeting between them, over which we 
will draw the veil. She promised to re- 
turn with him to her old home. 

Easter came, and with it a great de- 
sire was born in Deborah's heart to see 
Elizabeth saved before she left them. She 
rememibered how T the broken-hearted fath- 
er had told her that his daughter was 
once the light of his home — his "Lily" he 
called her in those days, and should she 
not become his Lily again? Deborah 
slipped out and bought the most beautiful 
Easter blossom she could find and laid it 
beside the sick girl as she slept. To its 
slender stem she tied a slip of p>aper, with 
the words, "You too, may become as pure 
as this lily." "The blood of Jesus Christ 
cleanseth from all sin." 

Elizabeth awoke. The chimes of Old 
Trinity were ringing their Easter anthem 
"Christ the Lord is risen today." "What 
is this sweet perfume filling the air?" She 
lay with closed eyes drinking it in. Now 
she opens them and sees the lily and takes 
it in her hands, burying her face in its 
pure, white petals. "You too may become 



154 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



as pure as tlhis." The words are falling 
like golden pollen into the dark, dark 
recesses of her heart, where the Spirit of 
God causeth life to be born. 

"The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth 
from all sin." She was all sin, from the 
crown of her head to the soles of her 
feet. Her resolutions all broken, her 
character gone, her heart dead: but out 
of the dead earth, out of soil trodden un- 
der the feet of men, God had raised this 
spotless lily and was holding it up before 
her saying, "You too, I can raise to a pur- 
ity like this." Oh, the joy! Such a prom- 
ise! His power so infinite ! She, the dark 
soil, He the life of the lily. It was all of 
Him. It was all of Him. 

Deborah came softly to the bedside. 
There were tears gathering like dew drops 
upon the blossoms which lay pressed cloise 
to Elizabeth's cheek, and in their crystal 
depths there was a purity which outshone 
the lily's whiteness, for the rpiracle of 
the new birth had been wrought in her 
soul. 

******* 

What a revelation of human hearts, 
what an insight into the world's sorrows 
came to both Bradford and Deborah in 
those days! And with them came many 
a bright reflection of the Father's love 
in the hearts of God's poor. 

There was Malcolm and Margaret 



A RETROSPECT. 



155 



Douglas, a worthy old Scotch couple liv- 
ing in Cobble Stone Alley. Malcolm had 
been a sturdy man of massive frame in 
his day, but he was now bent with the 
weight of over eighty summers, and rheu- 
matism sadly crippled his limbs. He had 
a venerable appearance with shaggy hair 
of snowy whiteness, and his sterling char- 
acter won for him the respect of all his 
neighbors. 

Margaret, his wife, had once been a 
bonnie wee lassie with the bluest of eyes. 
She too had grown old, but her face had 
lost none of its beauty. In her loving 
vision, Malcolm was the embodiment of 
goodness itself: "He is sae worthy," she 
w 7 ould tell her neighbors, never for a mo- 
ment suspecting that his worthiness was 
largely due to her own sw r eet influence. 
Her humility even deprived her of the 
comfort she should have found in God's 
promises, and her feeling of unworthi- 
ness robbed her of many a joy which was 
hers. 

It was twilight and the evening lamp 
was lighted, as Bradford on his round of 
visitation, dropped in upon them. Mal- 
colm was sitting with Margaret's hand in 
his as he read from the large family Bi- 
ble, for this was the hour of their quiet 
vesper service. Malcolm loved the Book, 
and now that his sight was nearly gone, 
he knew by the marks he had made where 
his favorite chapters w r ere. He ran his 
fingers lovingly over the verses as he re- 



156 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



peated them from memory, interspersed 
with his own remarks. 

"Well, wife, we'll hae a bitie o' the 
gude Book, frae the mony mansion chap- 
ter tjhe nicht. 'Let mot ye're heart be trib- 
bled.' Aye that's it, we dinna want ony 
tribble. 'Ye believe in God.' Aye that we 
do. 'Believe also in Me.' Verra like. 'In 
me Faither's house are mony mansions,' 
that ware aye His way, a plenty for aa' — 
'If it was na sae I wad (hae tauld ye,' 'T 
gae tae fix it for ye.' Do you hear that 
wife? The Lord is fixin' it for ye this 
verra oor. He's no idle, and He must hae 
it weei nigh fixit by this, for we're nb far 
frae it." 

"Aye, Malcolm, fixin' for ye, for ye are 
a good mon." 

"Margaret! The Lord would na hae ye 
oout o' it. He kens we maun be the gith- 
er. It wad be lonesom wi'oot ye Mar- 
get!" 

"Aye Malcolm, it wad be lonesome, 
maybe He'll let me in for ye'r sake!" 

"Aye Marget! Harken to what He say. 
'If I go and fixit the place for ye I'll come 
again and tak ye tae Mysel', that whar I 
aim there ye'll come tae.' Marget, ye see 
He's fixit for the twa o' us. He'll no tak 
the ain wi'oot the ither o' us, for He kens 
we couldna bide wi'oot the ither." 

"Aye, me nion, but I'm niae worthy." 

At this moment Bradford and Deborah 
who had paused upon the threshold, op- 
ened the door, remarking, "You are right, 



A RETROSPECT. 



157 



Margaret, you are not worthy, but worthy 
is the Lamb who died for you, and has 
prepared a place for you. Can't you do 
Him the honor and justice to believe w T hat 
He says? And accept the house He gives 
yon among the many mansions. Yoa 
would like to keep house with Malcolm up 
there?" 

"Aye, that I wauld. P wadna be far 
frae me ain mon." 

"Well, Margaret, the Lord knows it and 
He will see that you are together." The 
next time they called, Margaret had fallen 
ill with pneumonia, and as they took her 
wrinkled hands in theirs ishe whispered, 
"Nae doot the mansion is ready for me." 

"Yes, Margaret," they answered, " it is 
ready." 

"And I widna gae alane by myseP. " 

" Though I walk through the valley of 
the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, 
for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy 
isttaff they comfort me." 

"No alane?" 

"No, Margaret, not alone!" 

"Aye, aye, I see it noo, it's the Lord's 
doing, and no puir me. It is His ain guid- 
ness and mercy. We twa will be the gith- 
er in the hoose of the Lord far aye." 

"Aye, Marget," came from the other 
side of the bed, "we twa the githe? for 
aye." 



II. 



CONCLUSION 

T HE meetings at the Auditorium were 
the beginning of a movement which 
was destined to spread far and wide. 
Cities which were centers of triad e 
and populatioin sent urgent invitations for 
a similar wtork to 1 be undertaken for them. 
Business men stood ready to furnish the 
nie&nis. Workers banded themise'lyes to- 
gether to prepiare the way. 

Never in his life had Luther Bradford 
so felt the insufficiency of human flesh. 
Never had he bowed so low before the 
throne. The fire of his early enthusiasm 
paled like a flickering candle before the 
pillar of cloud and flame which moved be- 
fore him. Beyond, lay fenced cities of 
drink and lust and self-indulgence. Sin 
was poisoning the foundations of public 
and private life and lifting its head unre- 
buked within the temples of a sinless 
Christ. 

The shepherds were distracted by an 
internecine war over the standards of 
their faith. The schools of the prophets 
had forsaken the sword of the Spirit for 
the scalpel and knife of criticism. Whole 
communities were as sheep without a 
shepherd, trying to be their own saviours. 



CONCLUSION. 



159 



Reformers ran to and fro carrying in 
their hands some well-selected corner- 
stone of the old faith and calling upon 
men to build thereon a new temple dedi- 
cated to humanity. 

As Bradford faced the situation his 
heart sank within him. It is when men 
are thus humbled that God summons 
them to undertake vast and overwhelm- 
ing responsibilities. 

* "Most of us are too strong for Him to 
use. We are too full of our own schemes 
and plans. He must empty us, and bring 
us down to the dust of death. Then He 
will raise us up and make us the rod of 
His strength. Otherwise when confront- 
ed with such tasks as this, we are apt to 
fight the world with weapons borrowed 
from its own arsenals. Our only hope is 
to act on spiritual lines, for behind all 
forms of wickedness and sin in the world 
are the potentates of Satan's fallen 
realm. We wrestle not with flesh and 
blood, but with principalities and pow 
ers. If we can overthrow these dark 
spirits we shall see the system^, which 
4-hey support, crumble ais . a paHalee of 
clouds before the wind." 

Believing this, Bradford was ready to 
hear the still small voice which spoke to 
him, saying, "Be strong. Be not dis- 
mayed, for I will strengthen thee. Yea, 
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee, 



* ^Joshua," by F. B. Meyer. 



160 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



with the right hand of My righteousness." 
Then the Lord opened his eyes, and he 
saw aged Simeons waiting for the conso- 
lation of Israel, and many faithful shep- 
herds keeping watch over their flocks by 
night. Without the sheepfolds, a great 
cry smote the heavens! the cry of the lost 
sheep upon the desert! the hoarse cry of 
hungry souls perishing for the bread of 
life! He hesitated no longer, but arose 
in a power which as yet he did not feel, 
but which he reckoned upon (as his by 
faith, and whole communities were 
blessed by the ministry of his word. 

As the great Beformer's cry, "The just 
shall live by faith," aroused a corrupt 
and degenerate church in the sixteenth 
century, so Bradford's cry of "Life in the 
Spirit," aroused many a worldly church 
in the closing years of the nineteenth 
century. 

The Beformation of the Middle Ages 
restored faith as the basis of justifica- 
tion, but left for another age the faith 
of the primitive church, in a life of vic- 
tory through the Spirit. Bradford's 
watchword was, "Christ in heaven for us. 
We on earth for Him. To do His will. 
To be in the world, but not of it." Such 
a message brought many so-called Chris- 
tians face to face with the truth that 
the God of this world was ruling in 
them. They were self pleasing, self 
willed Christians. Envy, covetousness, 
the love of the flesh, the pride of the eye 



CONCLUSION. 



161 



held them captive. God expected them 
to live like Christ in the power of 
His Spirit, and their condemnation would 
be that knowledge of this fact having 
come to them, they had refused it. 

To another class, found in every com- 
munity, his message brought the un- 
speakable joy of an hitherto unrealized 
liberty in Jesus. The knowledge of the 
living Christ within them, of the Spirit 
as their unwearied and inexhaustible sup- 
ply, was like a river of pure water flowing 
into and refreshing their lives. Thus 
Bradford continued testifying from place 
to place, "preaching the word, reproving, 
rebuking, exhorting with all longsuffering 
(and doctrine, "until the physical temple 
in which the spirit dwelt, began to fail. 

* "Work like this cannot be done with- 
out severe expenditure of all that is most 
vital to man. It drains the sympathies, 
taxes the brain, wearies the heart charg- 
ed with anxieties and sorrows, the bur- 
dens and needs of a throng of perplexed 
and troubled souls. You cannot save 
others and yourself as well. Virtue can- 
not go fo'rth to heal without becoming 
conscious of the drain. You can only 
comfort others when you understand 
them; and you cannot understand them 
till you have given yourself away to 
them. But the effort to do this costs you 
all you are worth to some other soul." 



* "Moses," by Rev. F. B. Meyer. 



162 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



Bradford had expended his physical 
powers without stint; he had poured his 
life out as a libation, and now in forced 
retirement there came to him a deep and 
abiding joy. 

Once he had walked the paths of disci- 
plesihip, solitary and alone. Now he was 
joined by many whom the Lord his God 
had called, and his heart grew strong, 
and his faith took hold on the promises, 
with renewing power and uplifting vis- 
ion. 

* "For there is nothing in heaven, of 
which, we may not have some anticipa- 
tion here; the difference being in meas- 
ure and degree, and not in essentials." 

Already he had entered one after an- 
other of the rooms in the heavenly man- 
sion. At the threshold of assurance the 
Father had met him, and welcomed him 
in the name of His Son. 

Through the vestibule of a surrendered 
will he had passed to the anointing room 
of the Spirit, and been led thence into the 
great library of the Word of God. * "Here 
on the wings of the morning one stole so 
silently to his side, that he heard only 
the chime of the golden bells, at the foot 
of His priestly robe," and became imme- 
diately conscious of the presence of Him 
who, in the upper chamber, had told of 



* Rev. A. B. Simpson. 

* "The Secret of Christ's Indwelling," by F. B. 

Meyer. 



CONCLUSION. 



163 



His going away, and of His coming again. 
In the cool of the day he had walked in 
the garden of the Lord, where love, joy, 
peace, gentleness, goodness and truth re- 
placed the fruitage of earth's first para- 
dise. Leaning upon the Beloved, as he 
talked of the Oneness of the Vine with 
the branches; of the Father with the 
Son, and with those who believe on His 
name; he had come to know that rest of 
God, which flows like a river of peace 
through the soul. 

At last he stood again in the pulpit of 
the village church in Galilee. This time 
the silver was in his hair, as it had been 
in hers whose name he bore, and few T were 
living who remembered the mother. But 
the son looked longingly toward the old 
family pew, as if the loved face must still 
be there; then his glance wandered to the 
vacant places, where Calvin and Birdsey 
once contended for the faith of the fath- 
ers, and at last rested upon the choir gal- 
lery where Israel led off with that doxol- 
ogy of praise which was now being sung 
by him in heaven. 

After a brief opening service, he leaned 
over the old fashioned desk with its faded 
plush cushion, and its long, dangling tas- 
sels; and spoke lovingly to the little com- 
pany assembled. 

"Dearly beloved/' he said, "heaven 
seems so very near;" and without know- 
ing it he was repeating his mother's 



164 LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



words: "I can almost feel the presence of 
those whose forms are hidden by this 
veil of flesh. How we long to see them; 
to grasp their hands; and look into their 
faces! There is one face which outshines 
them all. Do you know Him? Has He 
often been in your home? Has He come 
to be the invisible Companion of your 
life; the One who aibides in your home? 
Who walks with you, talks with you by 
the way? Whoise voice you have learned 
to know apart from all the voices of 
eiarth? )and to which you listen with 
sweet and inwaird delight? If so, hea- 
ven has begun below, and one day will 
be continued above, where we, who have 
been like Him in Has humiliation here, 
shall be like Him in His glory there. 

* " 'Like Him in our bodies, O mystery 
of mysteries! Like Him in honor! Where 
I am there ye shall be also.' Like Him 
and satisfied because in God's likeness we 
were created, and can never rest until we 
awake again in that perfect likeness. 

"Standing between two eternities; the 
eternal purpose in which we were predes 
tined to be conformed to the image' of 
the first born Son and the eternal reali- 
zation of that purpose. We hear the 
Voice from every side. O ye image bear- 
ers of God and Christ; live a Godlike; a 
Christlike life!" 

Ais he spoke wor ds like these /his f ace 



* "Like Christ," by Andrew Murray. 



CONCLUSION. 



165 



suddenly paled; then a light broke 
through his countenance, as from a can- 
dle within an alabaster vase. His eyes 
seemed to look far beyond the Trails of 
the old church to the city of jasper , with 
its gates of pearl. For a moment he 
stood thus, with hands extended, as if 
clasped by another's from above, and the 
humble worshippers, hearing no words, 
•bowed their heads before the vision. 

Wihen they lifted them again, the spirit 
of Luther Bradford was with his Lord. 

* * * * * * 

But what of Luther Bradford's work? 
Did it go on after he was gone? 

* "Evil is so hydra-headed and protean. 
The bias to evil, in each generation, is 
so str'ong and inveterate. The restless 
sea is constantly sweeping away the em- 
bankments and walls reared against its 
encroachments. We are apt to become dis- 
couraged. But God is neither discouraged 
nor does He fail. 

"In the primeval w r orld, the successive 
platforms on which He wrought, in the 
ascending scale of creation, were perpet- 
ually submerged by waves of chaos, that 
swept them clear of His handiwork; but 
at last the heavens and earth stood forth 
(apparelled in beaiuty, that elicited from 
the lips of the Creator, the words: 'It is 
very good.' " 



* "Expositions on Isaiah," by Rev. F. B. Meyer. 



16G LIKE HIM, OR LED BY THE SPIRIT. 



And so we may say truthfully, it has 
been with all progress since the world 
began. History is the record in human 
language, of a mighty spiritual warfare 
between the powers of darkness and the 
powers of Tight. 

It is by successive victories won in and 
through the lives of men, that God has 
reared through the centuries, on plat- 
forms oft submerged, the Kingdom of 
His Son, in which the Spirit has dwelt 
since Christ ascended on high, to guide 
and empower those who follow in His 
steps, until He Himself shall come 
again to reign. 



Finis 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS % 



0 020 517 193 9 



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